Recent results of the new ETHOS-Light census have become public. This measures more accurately than ever how many people are homeless in a municipality. The numbers don't lie. In the Amsterdam region, the figure is 13,000. The twelve walk-in centres for mainly homeless people sleeping outside are overcrowded.
'This ETHOS-Light count quantifies what we see on a daily basis,' says Annie Berendsen (De Regenboog Groep's Rustling and Dreaming (R&D) department), who worked on the count with the City of Amsterdam. "And," she continues, "the numbers are distressing. What is certain is that in the Amsterdam region - which also includes surrounding municipalities Amstelveen, Diemen, Ouder-Amstel, Uithoorn and Aalsmeer, 'over 13,000 people are homeless. Thirty percent of these are women and nearly 1,700 include children. The number of outdoor sleepers is about 1,400 individuals, in percentage about double what we see in most other Dutch municipalities.'
Inclusive
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ETHOS stands for 'European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion' and was developed in 2006 by the Catholic University of Leuven, among others. The ETHOS-Light definition describes homelessness as "a lack of full-fledged housing. It involves a so-called point-in-time count, in which municipalities and a wide variety of organizations simultaneously identify all those who are in the picture in one of the situations of homelessness. It can all be called a significant improvement.
The previously mostly used Central Bureau of Statistics figures focused mainly on visible homelessness. Moreover, only people between the ages of 18 and 65 were included, and only if they had valid residency status. 'The Ethos data are more realistic and complete and provide more insight,' Berendsen continues. 'It's more inclusive than the previous figures were. And it becomes much more clear what kind of homelessness is involved. What ages are we seeing? What percentage are women? Does homelessness involve temporary stays with friends, stays in vacation homes, in emergency shelters, on the streets? Are children involved? So a lot of that kind of information, extremely useful for policy, is now being released.'
Homelessness puts pressure on walk-in centres
Trends cannot be indicated because this is the first count using this method in the Amsterdam region. But based on De Regenboog Groep's figures and experiences of colleagues, Berendsen identifies some clear movements. We see that the housing shortage has a huge impact. The number of people forced to stay with their network is increasing partly because of this. This often involves people who simply can no longer pay the rent due to financial hardship, job loss or divorce. And it is clear that the number of people who want to use the walk-in centres keeps increasing. That pressure is constantly increasing."
The picture Annie paints corresponds to what you see every day in De Regenboog Groep's Amsterdam walk-in centres. Yes, there is a certain coziness courtesy of the tight organization. But it is also reminiscent of the waiting room at a train station in an Eastern European provincial town. The train is late and it remains to be seen whether it will arrive today. Men, almost only men, lie asleep with their heads on the tables, or on the floor; knees up, sneakers off. The busy kitchen and washing machines are permanently running at full speed.
Rainbow employees try to perform their jobs to the best of their ability as quickly as possible. 'I can outline what it was like here yesterday,' says Jessica Hoogenboom, anthropologist, and Head of Location at De Kloof walk-in centre in the heart of Amsterdam. 'It rained all last night. So at nine o'clock there are about forty shivering people at the door. We let them in as quickly as possible. Then, as the fire department requires, no one is allowed in unless someone goes out. So then a group of another five to ten people form outside. And the last to arrive is always an old Moroccan man walking on crutches. And walking is a key word here, because a lot of these people don't sleep or hardly sleep at night. They walk. They get too cold otherwise, can't find a good place, also because there are others lying down or are chased away. What does this Moroccan man want? To dry off, some warmth, a hot snack, a shower, clean clothes. We have a wonderful exchange system here where people can turn in their clothes to have them washed and then immediately get clean ones to wear. But at most I can bring him a cup of coffee and other than that it's really waiting outside. I love being able to help people here. And helping is a careful term, because we are often the very last holdout for this group. But it's full, full, full. Every day.'
A cup of coffee, a shower, clean clothes are actually prerequisites. But is it enough?
Jessica Hoogenboom is site manager at walk-in centre De Kloof.
.Multiple routes of improvement
Logical, then, that the necessity of additional efforts is quickly brought up. 'There are several avenues of improvement that present themselves as obvious now,' says Berendsen, 'First of all, of course, we need a lot more affordable housing. And more places are needed immediately so that no one has to sleep on the street. We can do that by using vacant properties, for example. Prevention, being there earlier and moving closer to the people is also very important. And then in the first place for LGBT+ people, women and families, who we often do not have a good picture of right now. There are now far too many vulnerable people in very precarious situations. Of course, not everything can be solved at the municipal or regional level; that also requires real national commitment.'
Thanks to the census, therefore, there is more insight and from that - so is the good hope - improved policy will emerge. Hoogenboom likes to highlight it on a purely human level. 'A cup of coffee, a shower, clean clothes, those are actually conditions. You have to offer that as a minimum. But is it enough? No. Most people who come here are broken from stress. The life of an outdoor sleeper is lonely and anxious. There is no room for that first small step toward improvement. And that very thing is so important. That's where the hope and progress is. And for that to happen, you also need to be able to sit across from each other and have a quiet conversation. Ask the questions that matter: How are you doing? What would you like right now? Shall we work on that together? Just human contact, in other words. That is gold. And there is no time for that now.'