25 Residents living through Ad Hoc to live in Dennenheuvel estate in protest against eviction by owner "The Sisters of the Good Shepherd". It is unacceptable that one group of precarious residents is exchanged for another.
TOGETHER NOT ALONE
The municipality of Bloemendaal recently decided to accommodate various groups in Dennenheuvel, including status holders and other vulnerable target groups such as urgent home seekers, young people and people living in sheltered housing. Residents therefore developed a plan to occupy the building together so that everyone has a place to live. Karim: “We are not against the arrival of asylum seekers here, we want to live here together. We expect an active attitude from the municipality and the owner. Now people are on the street, that can't be the intention, can it?
AD HOC
Ad Hoc, the anti-squat agency that was engaged by the owner “Sisters of the Good Shepherd”, pays the owner 60 euros per month for gas, water and electricity. Insufficient to bear the burden, she says. This while residents 220 euros p. pay a month's rent to Ad Hoc. There is enough money; however, it remains with the intermediary party that does nothing but disenfranchise tenants and collect money.
ALTERNATIVE PLAN
The owner could not agree with the alternative plan that the residents developed to rent, manage and inhabit the property themselves together with the status holders. According to the owner, more money can be earned per status holder. The municipality provides a budget for this. However, the approximately 60,000 euros that the 25 residents of Dennenheuvel have coughed up in a year were more than enough to cover the costs, especially if more residents were added and both groups share the building.
EXCHANGE TENANTS: IDIOTE CHAIR DANCE
Here, one group of precarious people is exchanged for another without a social solution being found. An anonymous resident states “They talk about us as simple objects that you can move around. No, we are home seekers who are also in a vulnerable position and are forced to live in an anti-squat construction due to waiting lists! We also deserve stable housing.”
CANCELLATION OF CONTRACT IS ALSO EVOLUTION
“We don't put anyone out on the street. The anti-squat organization terminates the user agreement,” says Hubert Jansen, director of the monastery, hiding behind Ad Hoc. Is this now Christian mercy?
The BPW states "it is rude that Ad Hoc has captured more than 60,000 euros a year from the residents and now thinks people can put people on the street without rent protection and rehousing". In addition to the now usual trespassing by Ad Hoc, residents have also had to deal with intimidation as a result of their article in the Haarlemmer Dagblad that highlighted the situation last week. Residents were informed by Ad Hoc to keep a low profile and had to indicate individually by e-mail that they would distance themselves from the group of residents who discussed the situation surrounding the precarious housing situation in the newspaper, if they still wanted a chance to be transferred. Residents are threatened with a fine of €500 per day if they do not leave.
The BPW will not accept such blackmail! We remain in solidarity! Residents do not agree with the cancellation and will object to the cancellation with a lawyer. It is time that these types of companies and constructions are curbed. We have been arguing for this for some time, also in national politics. Despite outsourcing, governments and owners remain responsible for the abuses created.
FAIR SHARING
Also Marielys Roos (Heart for Bloemendaal) believes that the municipality should take action. “These residents are not asking for anything unreasonable. The case is solvable. Mayor Schneiders himself said: we should not let people sleep in the open field. Well, the same goes for the current residents. Congregation, do something. And: alderman, do what you promised!" she stated in the Haarlems Dagblad. Residents feel empowered in their housing struggle by the neighborhood and various political parties.
SOLIDARITY IPV INTERCHANGEABILITY
By circumventing the rent protection, profit is placed above the right to housing and home seekers are transformed into temporary residents. That can never be the case. Home seekers of every taste, forced temporary tenants, asylum seekers and status holders, everyone has the right to a house!
“It is now time for politicians to pick up the ball and build houses for all home seekers and involve the current residents in the new plan! We will not stoop to xenophobia because of the housing issue,” the BPW said. The Bloemendaal government and politics remains responsible for sufficient stock of social/public housing and an adequate solution for all groups. “Where the government fails in that task, we demand our right to housing through direct action.” The BPW supports the residents' group in its struggle for a humane solution for all residents.
Contact, support or follow the residents' group via the Facebook page of Residents Initiative Dennenheuvel Estate (BILD) or via Twitter
For more information please also contact the BPW