A new census by Hogeschool Utrecht and Kansfonds using the European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (EHTOS/ETHOS) found 28,721 homeless people across nine Dutch regions, with more than 20,000 in the Amsterdam-Amstelland and The Hague regions.
In the Amsterdam-Amstelland region ETHOS counted 13,070 homeless people, including 1,718 children. In the municipality, 1,353 people were counted living on the streets.
Amsterdam alderman Rutger Groot Wassink said, “We are shocked by the results of the ETHOS count, but not surprised.” He called on the cabinet to work on a “spreading law for the shelter of homeless families.”
The Hague region had 7,201 homeless people, including 1,112 minors. Five hundred of them were counted living on the streets.
Census totals and characteristics
ETHOS counted 28,721 homeless people in nine regions: Amsterdam-Amstelland, The Hague, Noordkop, Eindhoven, IJssel-Vecht, Maastricht-Heuvelland, Maassluis-Vlaardingen-Schiedam, Valleiregio and Zaanstreek.
The census recorded 15,012 males, 7,590 females and 4,062 children.
The third round of counting by Hogeschool Utrecht and Kansfonds found the homeless population to be diverse and increasingly include women and children.
Most adults did not stay on the street but with family or friends (31 percent). A smaller proportion, 18 percent, stayed in spaces such as a car, barn or mobile home, the census said.
The Salvation Army said the figures are substantially higher than those from statistics agency CBS and described the Netherlands as in a “crisis situation.” Chairman Harm Slomp said, “Regularly we have indicated what we see: an overcrowded social shelter, no through-flow possibilities, many people on the streets and, as a result of a shortage of suitable housing places, less prospect of recovery for homeless people.”
