Loud music and dancing feet.- looked like a party parade that passed through Eindhoven on Saturday. About a thousand young people (and older people) took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the housing shortage: “Two friends of mine live on the streets.”
396,000-That’s the housing shortage in the Netherlands, according to research agency ABF Research. Commissioned by the national government, the current situation is assessed annually. And although construction seems to be rising one after another, there was only a slight decrease nationwide of around 5,000 homes compared to last year.
From sofa to sofa
A drop in the ocean. This is also felt among young people in Eindhoven. This is the reason for initiator Rigo van Son (21) to act. He’s doing well with his parents, although he also wants to be independent someday. “If I want to buy a house with a normal minimum income, I have to live at home for another twenty years.”
He says he’s mainly doing it for his peers. “I’m doing well with my parents. However, there are a lot of young people who face violence at home. Or who go from sofa to sofa.”
The protest march, which began and ended on PSV-laan and passed through the city centre, was attended by more than just teenagers, twenty-somethings, and thirty-somethings. “I have two children who can’t leave the house. It’s not natural for someone 27 to still have to live at home,” sighed one mother.
Initiator Van Son agrees: “Young people need their own space. So, they can decide for themselves what time they go home, when they come home, and who they invite. Without always having to consult with their parents.”
Solution
According to the protesters, the housing shortage is due to commercial interests that wield too much power and are only concerned with profit. “Politicians have far too little influence. Prices are skyrocketing. It’s unaffordable,” they say.
According to initiator Rigo, the solution to the housing shortage doesn’t have to be difficult: “Young people don’t need a villa, but a place for themselves. Build a few thousand container homes in various locations, where young people can live for 350 euros a month. It doesn’t have to be big.”
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by Yawar Abbas
