Don't wait—start living
Call on the House of Representatives: finally make solving homelessness a priority
This is an initiative by dakloosheidvoorbij
Don't make people wait—let them live.
A home is more than just a roof over your head. It is the foundation for a dignified life.
Yet thousands of people without a home of their own wait years for housing. They sleep on friends’ couches, in their cars, in tents, or stay in shelters.
This is not a natural phenomenon, but a political choice.
The Netherlands promised to end homelessness by 2030 at the latest. That’s stated in black and white in the National Action Plan on Homelessness. Yet, in the new coalition agreement, solving homelessness has turned out to be nothing more than a side note. Time is running out, and more and more people are becoming homeless.
What needs to be done has long been identified and documented. An independent study on the implementation of the National Action Plan on Homelessness shows what is going wrong and what is needed to reduce homelessness. The recommendations are on the table.
What’s missing is political resolve.
That is why we call on the House of Representatives to:
Fully implement the recommendations from the study, and finally make tackling homelessness a priority.
In concrete terms, this means:
1. Address homelessness as a housing problem
Homelessness is the most extreme form of housing crisis. That is why tackling homelessness must be part of housing policy, and leadership must lie with the ministry responsible for Public Housing, and at the local level with the aldermen for Housing. Housing policy is only successful if the number of homeless people decreases.
2. Make securing housing the first step, not the last
All too often, people have to stay in shelters for months—sometimes even years—before they are assigned a home. This is expensive, ineffective, and inhumane. Provide financial incentives to municipalities to help people find their own homes as quickly as possible, and stop making shelter the mandatory path to housing.
3. Don’t make anyone without a home wait for years
People without a stable place to live cannot wait years for public housing. Use emergency housing programs to house all homeless people, even if they are not staying in a shelter or do not have children.
Homelessness is solved with housing, not with waiting lists.
From October 5 through 10, organizations across the country are taking action against homelessness, culminating in the Housing Protest in Amsterdam on Saturday, October 10—World Homeless Day.
text: dakloosheidvoorbij.nl/ photo: Eveline van Egdom