The recent ETHOS census (*) shows that there are some 11,000 homeless people in Amsterdam, with a much higher percentage of outdoor sleepers than in the rest of the country. In the street scene, this is unmissable. Experts explain what lies behind it and what can be done about it. Episode 3: the homeless woman.
This article by Gijs de Swarte from January 2026 was taken from https://dekanttekening.nl/
We are at De Regenboog Groep's walk-in centre in Amsterdam-Zuid. Pieneke, who uses it, is not an "ordinary" economically homeless person. These are mostly people, usually without too severe mental or addiction problems, who can still sleep with friends and acquaintances. But she knows only too well how quickly it goes downhill from that still somewhat manageable situation to ending up on the street. A neat lady, in her fifties, who speaks neatly; no one would doubt if she said she was an office manager somewhere, or a teacher. That things are different is already indicated when a walk-in centre staff member wishes her strength for this conversation. "You really can do it, Pieneke, I know that about you." And she is, she says, nervous too, but also definitely wants to tell "everything. "I'm past the shame. Well, when I went to get cans out of a trash can the other day, I did have to get over something. Then I thought: now I really am a homeless person."
Would you like to say something about how it came about?
"Yes, okay, the short version then. My parents had a café in Den Bosch and were alcoholics. No attention, abuse, my father got Korsakov, dropped out of school. Drugs. I was placed out of home and went from one place to another. Never got a paper. I had really wanted to learn and join society. I also always had a lot of respect for people who just work. But at that time, in that chaos, I couldn't figure out how to do that. I was also able to live in assisted living for a time. But that's where all those forms and assessments and whatnot came in. I learned all kinds of things over the years, just from living. But that overview, I didn't have that at all then. I just put it in a box."
So debts?
"Yes. And been hospitalized."
How did it go as you matured? I understood that there were calmer periods in your life as well.
"Yes, I was married to a truck driver for eighteen years. He helped me a lot. He gave me security, stability, and I knew I needed that. I did try to stick with him. But during that time I came to the realization that I was falling for women. At some point it just didn't work out."
How did you become homeless?
"I think ... I was very vulnerable anyway. And finding a house, it's just not possible. And on the street, it's very hard. Once you're on the street, everything becomes much harder quickly. I'm not alone in having that problem."
The creeping danger of economic homelessness?
"Yeah, sleeping on the street, that's really..." (shakes her head)
Can you remember your first night on the street?
"That was in Amsterdam-North. I went down there by the film museum, because there is a canopy there. But I was sent away and then it started pouring. Then I just kind of walked around with my sleeping bag and all my belongings. In the morning a cleaning lady from the film museum gave me a cup of coffee."
And the following days?
"Walking around a bit and that evening I went to a park near there. A man came up to me. I was so scared. I put my hood over my head and waved my leg a little nonchalantly. After that I was threatened many times and I was also assaulted a few times. And then I did think: I have to go to a walk-in centre."
"When I went to take cans out of a garbage can the other day, I had to get over something."
What do you do during the day?
"Mostly the same routine. I walk to the little square around here and get a cup of coffee at the Albert Heijn supermarket. Or a coke. I drink a lot of coke. And I have mealworms and feed the pigeons and the jackdaws. Then some walking around, collecting cans. Back to the walk-in centre ... but ..."
But?
"It's a really nice place, though. Only people who work here really have too much work, they work their asses off."
But?
"There are just too few houses like this in the city. There are so many people who need a place ... I mean, well, you obviously have no place of your own, no privacy."
How do you see your future?
"It's getting better, though. I talk to an expert by experience once a week. Someone who has been homeless herself. And in April I hope to hear something about a more permanent place to live. I'm really hoping for that. It's so crowded here. I go back out on the streets sometimes anyway, because I can't handle it. All those people. I can't take stimuli very well anymore. In fact, I'm always on my guard. That's because of that too. It makes you so tired."
(*) The ETHOS method of the European Union not only counts people living on the streets, but also people in temporary shelter, people who have just come out of an institution and people who are temporarily staying with family or friends. In the entire region of Amsterdam-Amstelland, it is 13,070 homeless people: 11,352 adults and 1,718 children.