Sharmila (49) was homeless for ten years. After a fight divorce, a towering debt and temporary living places, there seemed to be no end to her search for his own home. Until in December last year through the Wonen First System of Social Care (MO) in Den Bosch, she was assigned a home. “Otherwise I would have been in the homeless shelter,” says Sharmila emotionally.
After a divorce in 2014, in which Sharmila (49) was left with a debt of 80,000 euros that her ex did not want to share, she lost her house. Her income largely went to creditors, leaving little money for a home. For the past ten years she therefore lived with friends, in anti -squat buildings, small studios and holiday homes. She moved seven times. “I had a roof over my head, but no at home. I was constantly looking for a fixed living space, “she says.
Since the end of 2023 she lived with her two daughters in a studio in Den Bosch. “I kept looking for another house every day, because living in a studio with three is not ideal.” But because of her financial situation, Sharmila was unable to find something else. To her surprise, she heard just before her rental contract ended that the owner had sold the studio. Without a new house, she threatened to stand on the street with her daughters.
Out of desperation, the Bossche contacted the Central Access Social Care (CTMO), the counter where roof and homeless people can go for help and care. “A week before I had to leave the studio, I desperately called and said:” We are almost homeless and I don’t know how to solve it anymore. ”
“We had to focus on living in a shelter.”
Two days later, Sharmila was allowed to come for a conversation. She briefly told her story. “The employee said: ‘We can do two things based on your story. Or you go to small -scale care, where you and your daughters get a private room, but with shared facilities. Or we ensure that you immediately get a home. “
Since January 2023, the ‘Wonen First’ approach has been used in the Den Bosch region. Through this system, social care in Den Bosch homeless people offers a home directly, with guidance, so that they can rebuild their lives from that stability.
Also read: For example, 178 homeless people were given a home within three months
“After that conversation I cried with my daughters, because we didn’t know where we would celebrate Christmas or where we would be a week later,” she says. “I said we have to focus on living in a shelter.” A week later the unexpected news came through a phone call: she was assigned a home within a month through living first. “We couldn’t believe it. We sat on the couch and were completely speechless. ”
“This is my place. I’m home here now. ”
Since December last year, Sharmila has been living with her daughters in an apartment in a suburb of Den Bosch. “I wake up here every day and then think: ‘I just have a door from my bedroom. I just have privacy and peace, “says the 49-year-old woman. “That should be very normal for everyone. This is unique for me. ”
Sharmila is still not financially wide. But she tries to make the apartment her home. There are pictures of her daughters and on the table is a vase with flowers and candles. “I don’t have anything new, but it all feels new to me. I am grateful for all the things I have, “she says with a twinkle in her eyes.
What the first system has meant for her, she can hardly express in words. “If this hadn’t existed, my daughters and I were now in social relief. This system saved me. I no longer have to think about how to take the cupboard apart for the fifth time. This is my place. I’m home here now. “