Ahmed Radwan has been living with his wife and three children in a social rental home in the center for eight years. He sub-rents that house from someone else, but now that he has moved abroad, Ahmed of the Lieven De Key housing association has to leave as well. ‘Aggie’, as the snack bar owner is known in the Jordaan, has been looking in vain for three months now for a home and he is afraid that he will end up on the street. The neighborhood has now taken action to help Aggie.
‘Aggie’ evicted from social housing after eight years because he sublets – NH News
“I did everything to find another house,” says Aggie, sitting with his family in his snack bar in the Jordaan. “I don’t know what else to do. I can’t go on like this. I’m really broken.” No matter how annoying the situation is for Aggie, De Key is right. Renting out your social rental home is illegal and punishable by law.
Renting itself, which Aggie does, is not punishable, but you do not have the rights that you have if you rent from a corporation, for example. Not even if you are registered with the municipality at the home address, such as Aggie. For example, you can be evicted from your rental property without being offered another rental property.
“They may be in their right from a legal and bureaucratic point of view, but of course not morally”
“Aggie is a hard-working Amsterdammer, a friend of the neighbourhood. And now he is in danger of being evicted,” says Eddy Terstall. The film director and snack bar owner have become good friends over the years. “They may be in their right from a legal and bureaucratic point of view, but of course not morally. The best interests of the children should always come first and they should just see what the real situation is,” says Terstall.
Reaction The Key
We understand it is a difficult situation for this family. However, it concerns subletting and subletting of social housing is prohibited. Subtenants therefore have no right to the house in which they live, even if they have lived there for a long time and have built up their lives.
Because we understand the situation of these residents, we have agreed that they will have until February 20, 2024 to move. This is very exceptional and further delay is unfortunately not possible, because there are many people who are looking for social housing in Amsterdam. It is impossible to explain to people who are on the waiting list for a long time that they will not get a home and this family will. We’re sorry we can’t do more for this family. The municipality determines which people are eligible for urgent care, they may be able to help this family.
Aggie’s story is not an isolated one. Sixty percent of all forms of housing fraud involve illegal subletting. In 2022, this type of fraud was detected 357 times in the city. Although that is slightly less than in 2021, when this was discovered 372 times, it remains something housing corporations struggle with. Because do you evict people who have been renting a home for years and have children, knowing that it is virtually impossible for them to find a new home in the city?
“It really is choosing between two evils,” says Anne-Jo Visser. She is director of the Amsterdam Federation of Housing Associations (AFWC). “On the one hand, you have a family that has moved there in good faith and has probably paid too much. On the other hand, you have a family that may also live with someone and desperately need a home. we still, to be fair, assign that home to someone who is waiting nicely at Woningnet.”
“It is a choice between two evils. But to be honest, we assign that house to someone who is waiting nicely”
Aggie has already requested urgency from the municipality five times, but that has been refused time and time again. “You get that, for example, if you live with another family as a family,” says Visser. “Or if you split up with very young children. Ahmed is not eligible for that.”
Aggie was originally forced out of his home in October. De Key has now made that February 20, 2024. “This is very exceptional and further postponement is unfortunately not possible, because there are many people who are looking for social housing in Amsterdam. It is impossible to explain to people who have been on the waiting list for a long time that they will not get a home and this family will .”
Terstall has now started a petition to keep Aggie for the neighborhood. “And we want to approach politics. Because I think that the left-wing parties might find this an anti-social situation and the right-wing parties think this is too much bureaucracy. I think that a broad coalition can be found for this to come to a humane decision .”