No one in Brabant knows exactly how many people are homeless and what their situation is. A large group does not stand out because, for example, they sleep in their car or on the couch of acquaintances. In the Den Bosch and Oss region, all homeless people will be counted on Tuesday. The ultimate goal is to solve the problem of homelessness. But how do you count people who don’t show up?
Many people think of a homeless person as someone who spends their nights in a shelter or on the street. But homeless people are also families without residence papers or people who have just come out of prison and have no place to live.
The count is an initiative of Hogeschool Utrecht and Kansfonds that wants to help homeless people. They see that certain groups are not or insufficiently counted. “These people often do not report to a homeless shelter, municipality or aid organization. As a result, a large part of that group goes unnoticed,” explains Willem van Sermondt of Kansfonds.
According to Van Sermondt, it is precisely important that this group is also included. “To solve homelessness, we need to know how big the problem is.”
“We can map out the invisible group of homeless people better.”
But how do you count homeless people? 96 organizations in Northeast Brabant that deal with homeless people will complete questionnaires on Tuesday. Consider, for example, municipalities and shelter organizations, but also housing companies, social work, hospitals, youth care, police, prison, schools and vacancy managers.
Director Thijs Honig of Social Care Den Bosch: “Many organizations wait for people with problems to report. I hope that this count will help people who are at risk of becoming homeless to be found sooner.”
It is precisely for this reason that as many organizations as possible are involved in the census. “Many people are in the picture somewhere. For example, we ask social workers if they know people who do not have their own place to live. Housing companies and vacancy managers see again whether people are at risk of becoming homeless,” explains Willem van Sermondt of the Kansfonds. “We can map out the invisible group a lot better that way.”
“A new policy should prevent people from entering homeless shelters.”
The Northeast Brabant region is at the forefront of tackling homelessness. Homeless people no longer live in large-scale shelters, but are spread over studios, houses and apartments in the region. With the ‘Living First’ system, the director of Social Care wants to have solved the homeless problem in Den Bosch by 2030.
“The count is a measuring moment where we as Social Shelter can see whether our approach for homeless people works,” says director Honig. “It will help us if municipalities and other organizations can make new policies that prevent people from coming to homeless shelters.”
In order to be able to make new policy, the survey must make clear what kind of people are involved. “We ask a number of questions about these people. Someone with an addiction or psychological problems needs different care than someone who is homeless due to money problems or a divorce,” says Van Sermondt of Kansfonds. The study should be completed by mid-October.