CARE, EDUCATION & LAW
On Thursday, October 16, De Regenboog Groep organized a congress in honor of its 50th anniversary. Together with officials, colleagues from the social domain, researchers, entrepreneurs, advocates and experts by experience, we talked this afternoon about care, justice and shelter. About 130 people attended.
De Regenboog Groep is committed to helping people who fall between the cracks, the "city softener" of Amsterdam and its surroundings. We were guests this day at Ru Paré in Slotervaart. Once an elementary school, now a community with dozens of organizations and initiatives. Ru Paré stands for inclusion and social justice: solidarizing neighborhood economy and cooperative collaboration. They also provided a delicious lunch for all visitors.
At the entrance, our colleagues from Informal Care paired visitors with a so-called "Congress buddy. Completely in the style of De Regenboog Groep where, of course, we often pair people up for special encounters.
Sasha Vorm opened the conference. She is herself economically homeless, is more often a chairman of the day and did this at the congress in a playful, disarming and professional way. In doing so, she asked our director Hans Wijnands on stage, who in turn looked back on 50 years of Regenboog and turned his gaze forward: we remain optimistic, look at what can be done and we do it together. We will continue to soften the city.
Halleh Ghorashi gave an inspiring keynote on what civil society means to a society. How we can act between the rules, find in-between spaces and need in-between-persons as connectors of worlds. She argues for horizontal networks, where we see the whole person. This is how we can make a difference from multi-voicedness.
The market gave space to research and initiatives done with or by Regenbogers. Here were several booths to learn more about:
- A children's book on homelessness .
- The trauma-informed care approach
- LHBTIQ+ and women's shelters
- Experiences of respite guests at Villa Buitenlust
(text continues below images)
FIVE WORKSHOPS
Following that, we broke up into five different workshops:
.Emergency cabins in vacant offices
.A practical example of how to make better use of vacant space.
In this session, the initiators of the emergency cabins, a legal expert and session participants considered how initiatives such as emergency cabins can be used more quickly and better to make use of vacant space in the city in the fight against the housing crisis. To make it visual, a prototype of the emergency cabin was set up in the room so that session participants as well as conference visitors could see, feel and experience how it would work to sleep in the cabin in a space. The cabin is an easy and quick to assemble wooden block that includes a door, a slatted bed and storage space. It is suitable for temporarily and quickly partitioning larger spaces in vacant floors or buildings to create privacy to easily create multiple sleeping spaces. In the session, we discussed the idea, what it would take to make it possible within current laws and regulations, as well as for which people this could be a suitable solution.
The main conclusions were that:
- Homelessness in Amsterdam is on the rise; Ethos results show that 13,904 people counted in Amsterdam-Amstelland are homeless. Although Amsterdam is already doing a lot, much more is needed. While there is homelessness on one side, on the other side there is much vacancy.
- Amsterdam can show that it can use vacant real estate temporarily to give people a roof over their heads, without endless procedures. Because Amsterdam is still shaping its Omgevingsplan, this offers opportunities, and the municipality can now deliberately choose to include its own customized rules that make projects such as the emergency cabins easier to implement. E.g. by making the "environmental plan activity": permit-free under conditions ("yes, provided that") or making concrete in the Environment Plan the conditions under which this permit can be obtained ("no, unless").
- The session revealed that the emergency can be used in different contexts for different target groups. Real estate that cannot be used now can be temporarily converted to a shelter with the use of the Emergency Cabins without large investments or structural modifications. Together we can ensure that even similar, innovative solutions really come to fruition, so that no one has to sleep on the streets unnecessarily.
More information? Contact Marijn van der List: mvdlist@deregenboog.org.
Solidarity under pressure
.on the reception and support of undocumented people in cities.
.Thomas Swerts, a researcher at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, discussed the situation of undocumented migrants in Rotterdam and Brussels, focusing on the tension between national, often restrictive, migration policies and the autonomy of the city to determine its own reception and support for undocumented migrants. In these two cities, the municipality is "hostile" and solidarity with undocumented migrants is under pressure, but it has certainly not disappeared and remains firmly rooted in society. Swerts understands solidarity to mean "the relational, symbolic and spatial practices by which undocumented people are recognized as part of the urban community and actively approached and embedded in urban citizenship through care, interaction and urban infrastructures."
The main conclusions were that:
- Although the climate in the two cities Swerts treated is characterized by hostility toward undocumented people, the solidarity movement is strongly embedded in the city's social network. This movement persists despite solidarity being under pressure.
- Despite this hostile city, we do see some positive actions by the municipality to provide shelter, such as freeing up real estate to accommodate undocumented people. The backlash is there and remains possible.
- In this light, the informal sector is sometimes more important than the formal one that we see slowly being dismantled.
More to know? Contact Frederiek de Vlaming: fdvlaming@deregenboog.org.
Aid in a Europe without borders
.Aki Herlyn, former social worker, talks about the history of AMOC, with a focus on mobility, homelessness and assistance in Amsterdam from the 1970s onward. This is followed by a panel discussion on homelessness among EU citizens and the Plan of Action from three pilot municipalities (Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam) and a non-pilot municipality (Zaanstad).
The main conclusions were that:
- All cities are experiencing an increase in homelessness issues surrounding EU citizens.
- Each city or region arranges assistance and shelter for EU citizens differently.
- We see opportunities to learn from each other, to act together as cities among themselves but also towards The Hague (or even Europe).
More to know? Contact Michael Sprokkereef: msprokkereef@deregenboog.org.
Social enterprise in healthcare
About the experiences of Amsterdam residents taking respite care within a social firm
.Michiel Vervier, researcher at the VU, is doing research on social entrepreneurship as a driver of social change. He researches social entrepreneurship in healthcare,the food industry or sustainability. Central to his story was the respite care in Villa Buitenlust and the experiences of the respite guests who stayed there. Villa Buitenlust is a company that wants to achieve social goals through entrepreneurship. Eva de Rooij, location manager of Villa Buitenlust told about this place, the ideas behind it and the diverse users of and activities in the Villa.
The main conclusions were that:
- The cross-pollination of people at Villa Buitenlust, from the business community, artists, volunteers, people gaining work experience and respite guests provides special experiences.
- Care that doesn't feel like care is how respite guests describe their stay at the Villa. This type of care normalizes and that has a positive effect on the recovery people experience. Respite guests are not characterized as clients or patients', not tucked away somewhere, but part of a vibrant environment where they decide for themselves what works best for them.
- Social entrepreneurship in healthcare has great potential: it reduces healthcare costs and it provides a unique, effective form of care. The mission to address a social problem (high-threshold job market) or wanting to do something for a specific target group (young adults or welfare mothers) can be the starting point of a plan for a social enterprise.
More information? Contact Marit Postma: mpostma@deregenboog.org.
Workshop Inclusive Neighborhood
.On lowering barriers Houses of the Neighborhood for Amsterdam residents with mental vulnerability.
Introduction by Mitchell Kooi, program coordinator of group offerings at the Regenboog, on the role of the quartermaster and informal care in lowering barriers to the House of the Neighborhood. The following elements emerged in his talk:
- Inappropriate behavior can be a cry for attention; most Amsterdam residents ultimately want to participate
- Kwartiermaker plays a role in the "in-between space" and lowers thresholds that many (volunteer) employees of a House of the Neighborhood are not even aware of. And in doing so, they seek to soften neighborhoods and Houses of Neighborhood by simply being present and doing.
- For vulnerable Amsterdammers in a Regenboog buddy program (informal care), group-oriented offerings in a House of the Neighborhood can contribute to a sustainable landing in the neighborhood and network strengthening.
Then we exchanged perspectives with a diverse panel consisting of community work/House of the Neighborhood, participant/experience expert, W in the Neighborhood, informal care and Neighborhood Team, regarding the question: how do we strengthen each other in a city where everyone can participate? What is needed to achieve this? The main outcomes of the conversation were:
- Ensure a soft landing in (a House of) the Neighborhood: going with someone can make a lot of difference (for example, a buddy). To step over the threshold together with someone.
- Culture change is necessary to be truly socially accessible; for example by equipping (volunteer) staff how to deal with misunderstood behavior. You have to do it together.
- Keep the balance so that a House of the Neighborhood remains safe (continue to make room for private places) .
- Collaborate and involve neighborhood locations in this movement
More to know? Contact Jessie Verhave: jverhave@deregenboog.org.
Conclusion with alderman
.We closed the day with Alderman Groot Wassink (oa Opvang en Sociale Zaken). Together with the chairman of the day he reflected on the Ethos results and on the questions and dilemmas that emerged from the various workshops of the congress.
We look back on a successful anniversary congress and would like to thank all speakers, visitors and the people of Ru Pare's location for making this possible. We will continue - inspired - as an 'urban softener' and will gladly continue to work together with you for multi-voicedness, for creating in-between spaces and for seeing the whole person.
We look back on a successful conference and would like to thank all the speakers, visitors and people of the Ru Pare location for making this possible.