At the front desk, I repeated the same mantra over and over again: 'I want a valid ID so I can apply for a job and work.' Then some counter clerk says, "You can apply for an ID card free of charge with a City Pass. But what do you need to apply for such a City Pass? A valid ID!
In one fell swoop orphan
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"In 2012, my girlfriend and I broke up. I couldn't cope with that and fled abroad. There I worked in the port for a while. Years later, I received news that my father had four types of cancer in his body. I flew back to the Netherlands to take care of him. He died eight months later. Immediately after, my mother got cancer. She too died. In a year and a half I lost both parents."
Headless chicken
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"It was a chaotic time. There was no time to grieve, because two houses had to be cleared out. I combined this with my work at the auction. There I loaded and unloaded trucks, but that company went bankrupt. After that it went downhill fast: I got deeper and deeper into debt because of increasing collection costs. I had no savings and my ID had also expired unnoticed in the meantime. On St. Nicholas Eve I found myself on the street: I was officially homeless. For two days I walked around Amsterdam like a headless chicken. Those first nights I slept outside on the street. No idea where to go."
Bed, bath and bread
In the end I ended up at the GGD's winter shelter on Jan Van Galenstraat. I thought: there must be a social worker there who can help me apply for a new ID. But there wasn't. It's pure: bed, bath and bread what you get there. Homeless people who had been around longer tipped me where I could eat, sleep and exchange clothes. It was a totally unknown world to me. On Christmas Eve, I signed up at Makom, a walk-in centre of De Regenboog Groep, where I stayed until the beginning of spring. All that time I still didn't have a valid identity card."
'Stick that benefit up your ass!'
"The bureaucratic low point for me is WPI's 7-day form from Enforcement. To qualify for homeless benefits, a homeless person must report by text message where you hang out for seven consecutive days. At the time, my regular spot was the Vondelpark. But one night it rained so hard that I took shelter at the Rijksmuseum. In the middle of the night I bravely sent a text message to Enforcement: 'Guys, I'm not in the Vondelpark anymore. I am now sheltering from the rain under the tunnel near the Rijksmuseum'. On Jan Van Galenstraat, a nice letter was waiting: 'You don't get homeless benefits! Enforcement couldn't find you.' Furious, I showed the desk clerk my sent text message. The response? 'Sorry sir, you really should have stayed where you were sitting anyway.' Then all fuses blew. The entire application process had taken 3.5 months with zero results. Promptly, four security guards stood around me. 'Stick that benefit up your ass!' I snapped at them. And furiously I stormed off."
Self-reliant, but without ID
"Homeless people who are not crazy or addicted have almost nowhere to turn. Around me I saw homeless people feigning addiction or insanity to get help. I was told, 'You are a healthy man and self-reliant.' But without valid ID you can't do anything at all. Once it rained and stormed so hard that I very efficiently threw a stone through the window of the police station on Ferdinand Bolstraat. I stood stoically at the door, so they had to arrest me. At least I was inside. A turning point was when a regular employee of a De Regenboog Groep walk-in centre asked me: 'How much does an ID like that cost anyway?' He then lent me €60 out of his own pocket. Within five days I had a new ID. And within four days a job as a cleaner. In fact, your homelessness is maintained for €60."
Homeless with a job
"Suddenly I was a homeless person with a job. The first months I still slept in the Vondelpark. Then I'd step straight out of my sleeping bag on my bike to work. In the evening I'd grab a bite to eat at the Makom walk-in centre and then head back to the Vondelpark into my sleeping bag. In the beginning I worked weeks of more than a hundred hours. Anything to get out of debt! I got rid of €17,000 in debt in one year without any debt settlement. I pay off the last remaining debt with €300 in the month. I have to be frugal, but it is achievable."
Under de Pannen
"Over the summer, I was able to join a new project by De Regenboog Groep: Onder de Pannen. Amsterdam residents are given the opportunity to rent out a room for up to a year to people like me. The landlords are kind, social people. My first accommodation was an independent room with its own shower and toilet on the Spaarndammerdijk and for that I paid €350 rent per month. Great: I can't say anything else. Four months later, within the same project, I could move in with a caring woman from Watergraafsmeer. To her I paid € 250 rent. There I stayed for a year. Recently I found housing myself by actively flyering to local residents. I made five hundred photocopies and put them in all the neighbors' mailboxes. Soon I received calls. Now I pay €500 a month for my own attic room and I can afford it!" Text: Evelyn de Roos