Looking for homeless people with Veldwerk Amsterdam: “Target group is difficult to get a picture of”
Major cities, including one, are substantially concerned about the increase in the number of homeless people. There are just no hard numbers. It is concerned residents, but especially the social workers who signal that it is becoming more visible on the street.
“Hey, I’m Marieke, this is my colleague Saskia. Sorry to wake up.” While the city is still asleep, Marieke Dwars and Saskia de Melker of Veldwerk Amsterdam look for the people who have to do that outside. If they are such a sleeper to switch the social workers automatically switch to English.
Eastern Europe
Do you want many homeless people in Amsterdam come from Eastern Europe. Like the man who has found a place to sleep in a porch in the chic Vondelparkbuurt. He is from Latvia. A concerned resident has made a report and that report is then sent to Veldwerk Amsterdam, often via the police. Marieke calmly walks up to the sleeping man. “We approach people carefully. You wake them up of course. That’s not always fun. We introduce ourselves, see what the situation is and say what we can do.”
“We can lead people to mental health or addiction treatment”
Veldwerk Amsterdam consists of eight street workers. Several times a month they look for outdoor sleepers early in the morning or late at night. They offer assistance and transfer production to the various authorities. The field workers work closely with, among others, the police, mental health services and reception centers. “We can send people to mental health care from addiction care. They can receive benefits, an identity card, from simply being cared for,” said Marieke. “People must be entitled to claim social benefits. They must have a binding relationship with the city of Amsterdam.”
The homeless man from Latvia has little connection with the city. He says he arrived here in May, but Marieke and Saskia see in the system that they already spoke at the end of last year. According to the Netherlands, the man is not entitled. This means that he is not entitled to benefits, housing care. “Do you know AMOC?” asks Marieke.
AMOC is a walk-in house of the Rainbow Group. There, the man can even take a shower and have some food and if he needs it, talk to the existing social workers. The man knows it, but he thinks it is ‘too busy’. Marieke and Saskia leave a card. “It’s going to be very cold. We’re going to see what we can do for you.” The man says a heartfelt thank you twice and turns back.
inflation crisis
This month Alderman Rutger Groot Wassink (Reception) wrote a letter together with his Utrecht colleague fire letter to The Hague. To point out the growing number of homeless people in the big cities. “All signals are in the red when it comes to the short term: the impact of the current crisis will exacerbate the homelessness problem.”
“We only see a part of those people”
It’s not just hard numbers. The concerns are based on what social workers like Marieke and Saskia see with their own eyes. And they signal that it is becoming more visible on the street. Marieke: “It is of course a target group that is very difficult to get a picture of. We see some of those people, but there are many many people who sit in boats, sleep in cars or hide in the parks. We do not reach all of them. We do have a bit of a distorted image because of corona. Then there was emergency shelter for this one. Everyone was allowed in during the lockdowns. there are a lot of people on the street at once. But we really see a lot of people from Eastern Europe who have to sleep on the street.”
Winter is yet to come
The nights are getting colder, winter is yet to come. The temperature is around the freezing point, the outside sleepers have to go inside. “In the winter we also go out more evenings,” says Saskia. “To see if we can get people in. Yes, in the winter we can.” Provided there is enough space.
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