Almost all Hilversum neighborhood centers cannot help this winter with offering a warm place for fellow villagers who are at home in the cold because they can no longer pay the energy bill. This is stated by the municipality of Hilversum after a call round. Most neighborhood centers say they cannot open more than they already are.
Hilversum has looked into whether the community centers can open their doors longer per day, so that there is a warm meeting place all day long for people who are at home in the cold. This happened at the request of the city council, which would like neighborhood centers to turn on the heating and accommodate more people.
Only De Kruisdam community center in the Hilversumse Meent has indicated that it can open more hours and provide more activities for this group. This will result in an additional cost item of 16,000 euros, as reported to the municipality.
The other seven neighborhood centers indicate that there is little flexibility in the opening hours. Many Hilversum community centers report that their opening hours are already very long and there is limited room to expand. This has to do with a shortage of volunteers, but also because the community centers are rented out to other groups at certain times.
Not much need
In addition, there is also feedback that there is not much need for extra hours open from Hilversummers for the time being.
Community centers can play a central role by offering more Hilversummers a warm place in these times of high energy prices and rising energy poverty. This saves the residents heating costs, while they are among people in their community center.