In combating poverty and debt, the city council is committed to strengthening the existing approach. “I am not a director who says that he will do things completely differently for a while,” says poverty alderman Eelco Eikenaar.
In an action plan presented today, the city council focuses on improving the income position of people living in poverty, tackling problematic debts and preventing long-term poverty in Groningen . Working based on trust is the starting point. “I find it painful that people in poverty are approached with distrust. Conversely, this undermines confidence in the government. If I apply for a subsidy for solar panels, that is no problem at all. If someone applies for a supplement, distrust is his part. The benefits affair shows where that mistrust can lead.”
Eikenaar believes that the municipality should not be a distrustful hindrance, but a party that makes things possible. In addition, he says he likes to explore the edges of the regulations. “For example, someone may be entitled to an allowance to take the children to school. But maybe that family would be much more helpful with a driver’s license so that father can bring the children himself.”
Where his predecessor Isabelle Diks unfolded wide vistas where the poverty solved in ten years would become with a completely new approach to poverty reduction, Eikenaar takes a more modest stance. “I am not a driver who says that he will do things completely differently for a while. I don’t have a wand with which to make poverty disappear. We build on what is already there. We will do extra things.”
Things are going badly in the northern districts of the city of Groningen
One in eight households in Groningen has to survive on a low income. In Groningen, 1 in 11 children grow up in a family where the parents have insufficient money for meals, clothing or holidays. Especially in the northern districts, the number of families in poverty is considerably higher than in the rest of the municipality.
In this way, Eikenaar wants to cut down further in the forest of rules in which many people get lost. “I am annoyed by the hoops that people in poverty have to jump through. It is a day job to be poor and collect the euros from all kinds of institutions.”
The breakthrough method is also being used within the municipality of Groningen, with which people in poverty can be helped. “They also want to be able to deploy before people get completely stuck.”
In addition, he wants to try to involve people who have dropped out through help in the neighborhoods. “People who prefer not to ask for a supplement because they are afraid that they will have to pay back a lot of money afterwards.”