The municipality of Helmond plans to buy debts from young people. The municipality announced this on Tuesday during the presentation of a new youth policy. The Ministry of Justice has given Helmond 3.5 million euros to prevent young people from drifting into crime.
The municipality cites a study by RTL Nieuws, which states that the Helmond-West district has the greatest risk of young people slipping into drug crime. This concerns 1 in 8 young people. The municipality also saw that Helmond is in 8th place among the most vulnerable municipalities to undermining. The number of young people at risk is a more important factor in this.
“We hope to keep them at school in this way.”
The municipality now wants to focus on young people in three Helmond neighborhoods, Helmond-West, Helmond-Oost and the city center. And especially on young people who are at risk of ending up in crime or who are already involved in it. Tackling debt is an important pillar. Because debt and juvenile delinquency are related. “You see that the temptation is very great there,” says Mayor Elly Blanksma of Helmond.
The municipality therefore plans to pay off the debts of young people who are in trouble by giving them a restructuring loan. The young person must not repay the amount in money, but with a social contribution. “We hope to keep them at school in this way. So they don’t have to go to work to pay it off. There is peace and space to work on a new perspective,” says Blanksma. The young person is supervised in this for two years.
And the municipality is doing more for the youth. For example, Helmond wants to deploy additional youth coaches to be more visible to young people. The municipality also wants to provide help more quickly in case of absenteeism from school. “School absenteeism is often a signal of underlying problems,” says councilor Cathalijne Dortmans.
“We don’t want to see these young people as lost.”
It is not surprising that the municipality is trying to do something about the problems. The figures are shocking in the three Helmond neighborhoods. For example, 33 to 36 percent of young people there do not have a diploma. Of children up to the age of twelve, 37 to 39 percent are at risk of educational disadvantage.
The ‘behavior of the street’ also penetrates the schools and teachers do not have the opportunity to tackle this properly in addition to teaching. Young people often have the idea that a good job is not for them, the municipality writes in a report on the new youth policy.
“We do not want to see these young people as lost, but help them with a new perspective in which the right turn will be taken,” says Blanksma. Parents can also count on help. In some neighborhoods more than a quarter of people live in poverty. According to the people who work in these neighborhoods, the situation is worrying. For example, problems often pass from parents to children. Simply paying attention to youth is therefore not enough.