Poverty in Brabant seems to have decreased enormously if you look at the official figures, but Brabant municipalities experience a completely different reality. Rather, they see that poverty has increased and become more severe. This is evident from a tour by Omroep Brabant to various municipalities. They want national politics to take action to tackle poverty.
In the previous elections for the House of Representatives in 2023, social security and the fight against poverty were two of the most important election themes. A lot had to be done to help people with a small budget.
In the run-up to the upcoming elections, Omroep Brabant wanted to know what municipalities in our province now think about the theme of social security. We did a tour of the Brabant municipalities where the poverty problem is greatest: Helmond, Woensdrecht, Bergen op Zoom, Eindhoven and Den Bosch responded to the questionnaire. A clear picture emerges from the responses: social security remains under pressure.
Seriousness and depth
At the end of last year, the definition of poverty was changed by CBS, Nibud and the Social and Cultural Planning Office. As a result, people are now looking more closely at the money that people have available to live on. According to the new definition, approximately 540,000 people lived in poverty throughout the Netherlands in 2023, compared to 820,000 according to the old calculations.
The five Brabant municipalities see a slight decrease in the hard figures of poverty, but the practice is more difficult. “The depth and severity of poverty appears to be increasing. The numbers may decrease, but that says nothing about the severity of someone’s situation,” says a spokesperson for the municipality of Eindhoven.
Hidden poverty
The municipalities see that there are groups of people who live just above the new poverty line, whose situation is often not much better than that of residents who do fall under the current definition of poverty.
According to Woensdrecht, an important challenge lies in so-called hidden poverty. “These are residents who live with financial worries for a long time, but do not ask for help. Such as workers with a low income, the elderly with a small pension or self-employed people with high fixed costs. Their situation often remains under the radar, which can cause problems to become worse.”
Buy now, pay later
Poverty has become more complicated in recent years, the municipalities see. Households are therefore coming under pressure because fixed costs such as rent, energy bills and insurance have become more expensive. “Although inflation and high energy costs are less prominent in the news and are no longer a major theme in the national political debate, many households still experience financial stress about this,” says the municipality of Helmond.
New risks have also emerged in recent years, meaning that people are more likely to encounter financial problems. “Such as the convenience of services that offer ‘buy now, pay later’ and the growth of online gambling. Complicated surcharges and their reclaim also quickly cause people to get into trouble,” says a spokesperson for the municipality of Bergen op Zoom.
The municipalities see that this financial pressure has an impact on the lives of their residents. “Such as functioning at work, their health, raising children and experiencing happiness,” concludes a spokesperson for the municipality of Helmond.
Stick plasters
The municipalities see that a large proportion of their residents remain dependent on their help. “Municipalities have been sticking plasters on poverty and debt policy for a long time,” Helmond writes. “In recent decades, municipalities have made many improvements in debt servicing and we are currently still working hard on this. But if no work is done to address the basic causes of the risks of living in poverty or problematic debts, then we will continue to have to mop the floor,” a spokesperson for the city outlines.
According to the municipalities, tackling these basic causes is a role for the national government. “This should be different. The government must ensure an adequate social minimum. Too few steps have been taken in this regard so far, which means that as municipalities we are mainly concerned with sticking plasters and combating symptoms, without being able to tackle the cause of insecurity,” writes the municipality of Den Bosch.