The project in the Amstelflat in Assen, where students try to combat loneliness among the elderly, is extended by a year. Housing corporation Actium is so satisfied with the results that students also come to live among the elderly in another apartment building.
Students Merel (21), Eline (20) and Ezra (19) started organizing activities for the residents of the Amstelfflat a year ago. Many seniors live in the building and some of them are struggling with loneliness. The students had to bring some life to the brewery, to motivate people to get in touch with others more often.
“In the beginning I thought it was very exciting,” says Merel from Emmeloord. The three did not know each other yet and still had to work together for the roommates. “We didn’t know exactly what to do, but we found out in the course of the weeks.”
It started with a fixed game evening, for which there was little enthusiasm for at first. After an introductory meeting it went better. Merel: “Nobody knew who we were and people thought it was exciting. But in the course of the time we live here, more and more people have come.”
In the meantime there has been plenty to do in the flat. Film evenings, hobby days, a Christmas party and a summer barbecue have already been organized. The students also regularly go to coffee with other residents or even stay dinner. “Now I notice that residents are really interested in me. For example, they ask how my first day of school has been,” says Eline.
The students also notice that the project works on the reactions they get from their roommates. “They tell us that they like that we are there. And we now see many more people than we did in the flat, both on the street and in our activities,” says Merel.
The Amstelflat can use the dose of cheerfulness of the students. Before their arrival, the building with 107 homes was mainly negative in the news. Residents complained about drug nuisance and an unsafe feeling, after the former senior apartment was opened to other groups of tenants. Camera surveillance had only limited effect.
In the meantime, the flag is very different, says Wonen Mireille Dijk van Actium. “We get fewer and fewer complaints. Something happens everywhere. If you have a street with 107 homes, then there is sometimes hassle. But it is really positive.”
The project tastes so that the students of Actium can continue to live in the flat for at least a year longer. In addition, residents of the Ekke Faberflat in Assen have asked the housing association if they can also get students. “We will roll out that soon. And I do not exclude that it will also happen in other places,” says Dijk.
Merel, Eline and Ezra are at least overjoyed that they can stay in the Amstelflat for another year. Their work is not nearly ready yet and they are now good friends. “We still want to organize something big,” says Eline, who already lifts a tip of the veil: “The Amstellympics.”
Merel agrees: “It is just a lot of fun and we want to continue this. And I think it will not continue without us. People say:” For the girls we come down “” “