BOND PRECAIRE WOONVORMEN

ACTION: STOP EVICTIONS BY SOCIUS AND THE MUNICIPALITY OF UTRECHT, 29 JANUARY 15:00, STADHUISBRUG 1, UTRECHT.

Approximately 180 residents of 'de Ravel' (Ravellaan 96 in Utrecht) are threatened with homelessness by landlord Socius and owner the municipality of Utrecht. The residents were recently informed that they must leave the building by 19 May. The municipality of Utrecht still has no plans for demolition or renovation and the building will remain standing for years to come. Nevertheless, the municipality of Utrecht is threatening the current residents with evictions, in order to exchange them for new temporary tenants! By exchanging the residents, the municipality wants to prevent the current tenants from building up tenancy rights. 180 people, including students, workers and vulnerable residents, are being evicted and are in great housing uncertainty. This is an attack on the housing and tenancy rights of everyone! The Bond Precaire Woonvormen and action group Red de Ravel! demand that the current residents can remain in their homes. Tenants are not interchangeable! On January 29 at 15:00 we will hand over our demands for housing security together with the residents at the city hall on Stadhuisbrug 1 in Utrecht. Show your solidarity and come to the handing over of demands!

Housing security for 180 residents 
The Ravel is a former office building in Utrecht with 180 residents and several residential groups where close-knit communities have now emerged. Students, workers and vulnerable young people live there, and it is also used by people from the neighbourhood for music studios, studios, workshops and catering. The building belongs to the municipality and has recently been managed by Socius with a vacancy law permit. Now that the maximum permit period of ten years has expired, the municipality still has no plans for the building, and according to its own statement will that take years?. However, they want to evict the current residents, because otherwise they will build up tenancy rights as regular tenants with a permanent rental contract. In order to mask the inadequate planning and vision for the future, the municipality wants to extend the temporary period for an indefinite period. For this, they have looked for a construction in which students from outside the municipality of Utrecht are temporarily deployed with specific temporary contracts. The community that has been built here for years is being disrupted by the municipality of Utrecht. This is unheard of and unacceptable in times of deep housing crisis.

Housing security is a necessity
The residents of the Ravel have nowhere to go in the midst of a housing crisis:
Mary: “I have been homeless since March because I couldn't find or afford anything, the Ravel has become a safe home for me and I hate that I might end up in the same situation again.” 

Siep: “After ten years of preparation, you expect a solid plan that is shared in a timely manner. But now 180 people are being evicted from their homes, without any clear reason.”

Malvina: “We are being sent out of their homes without any help or compensation and left to our own devices on the current housing market, to give students from outside the municipality of Utrecht a temporary contract who will face the same problem in a few years. The municipality is not letting one, but two times almost two hundred residents get into housing shortage.”

Prevent (invisible) homelessness
The municipality of Utrecht presents itself as a progressive and social municipality, which is committed to security of existence, but nevertheless disappoints time and again. It is not the first time that residents are evicted from their homes for temporary residence, and often nothing is returned. As in the case of the  Archimedes Avenue: in 2019, 500 young people were evicted here and exchanged for anti-squat residents. The building is now still emptyBy exchanging tenants for other residents without rights, the municipality shows that its priorities do not lie with housing security and the preservation of tenant communities. In the middle of a housing crisis, residents with flexible rental agreements are being evicted without rights or prospects of alternative housing. Recent Ethos counts show that 40% of homeless youth is. The municipality of Utrecht must take action so that this share does not become even greater by preventing homelessness through these unnecessary evictions and flexibilization policies. Tenants are not interchangeable!

BPW: “An entire community is being thrown out onto the streets here. It is unacceptable that so many young people are being made homeless simply because they would otherwise build up tenancy rights. This is a conscious choice for uncertainty, and we cannot accept that. Housing is not musical chairs!”

Thinking in solutions: Save the Ravel.
The current function of the building fits perfectly with the municipality's plans for redevelopment of the environment has; namely a mix of different residents, students and opportunities for the neighborhood. It is also the policy of the municipality to stimulate residential groups in Utrecht, but here nine residential groups are now being disbanded. In an area where there is only 15% social housing, affordable housing is extremely necessary. That is already present here, only the municipality must respect the rights of the current residents! 


The Association of Precarious Housing Forms Utrecht and residents of the Ravel have contacted the municipality, a petition was drawn up, there are also questions for advice. Up until now, the municipality and alderman Dennis de Vries refuse to take responsibility for the unrest and impending social disaster. The municipality offers no options and makes no attempt to involve the current residents of the Ravel in the plans for their home. These communities are simply made interchangeable and threatened with eviction. This while it is precisely the residents who have taken care of the building in recent years due to the lack of maintenance by the municipality of Utrecht and Socius. The municipality of Utrecht must now invest in the housing security of the current residents! 

Stop the exchange of tenants and prevent homelessness. The residents of the Ravel can and will not go anywhere!

The Association of Precarious Housing Forms Utrecht and action group 'Save the Ravel!' demand from the Municipality of Utrecht and Socius:

1. Provide security of residence and a say. Let the 180 residents of the Ravel stay in their home and respect their tenancy rights.
2. Prevent homelessness. Stop exchanging current tenants for other temporary tenants. No youth on the streets! 
3. Maintain the current community and residential groups in the building and the social cohesion in the neighbourhood. 
4. Stop the dumping of social responsibility by the Municipality of Utrecht and Socius on individual tenants and society. Take responsibility and guarantee housing security for everyone.

Show your solidarity. Come to the handing over of demands at the Town Hall on Stadhuisbrug 1 on 29 January at 15:00 for the preservation of the Ravel.

For more information and to contact the residents, please contact contact (at) bondprecairewoonvormen.nl

Do you also want to fight against evictions and for housing security? Then join the Bond Precaire Woonvormen:

Support the fight for housing security!

Recent Posts

BPW Newsletter

en_GBEN