Looking for homeless people with Veldwerk Amsterdam: “Target group is difficult to get a picture of”

“Hey, I’m Marieke, this is my colleague Saskia. Sorry to wake you up.” While the city is still asleep, Marieke Dwars and Saskia de Melker of Veldwerk Amsterdam look for the people who have to do that outside. When they address such a late sleeper, the social workers almost automatically switch to English.

Eastern Europe

Because a striking number of homeless people in Amsterdam come from Eastern Europe. Like the man who has found a place to sleep in a porch in the chic Vondelparkbuurt. He is from Latvia. A concerned resident has made a report and that report is then sent to Veldwerk Amsterdam, often via the police. Marieke calmly walks over to the sleeping man. “We approach people carefully. You wake them up of course. That’s not always fun. We introduce ourselves, see what the situation is and say what we can do.”

Veldwerk Amsterdam consists of eight street workers. Several times a month they look for outdoor sleepers early in the morning or late at night. They offer help and refer them to the various authorities. The field workers work closely with, among others, the police, mental health services and reception centers. “We can lead people to mental health care or addiction care. So that they can receive benefits, an identity card, or simply be taken care of,” says Marieke. “People must be entitled to claim social benefits. They must have a bond with the city of Amsterdam.”

The homeless man from Latvia has little connection with the city. He says he arrived here in May, but Marieke and Saskia see in the system that they already spoke to him at the end of last year. According to the Netherlands, the man is not entitled to it. This means that he is not entitled to benefits, care or housing. “Do you know AMOC?” asks Marieke.

AMOC is a walk-in house of the Rainbow Group. There the man can take a shower, have something to eat and, if he needs it, talk to the social workers present. The man knows it, but he thinks it is ‘too busy’. Marieke and Saskia leave a card. “It’s going to be very cold. We’re going to see what we can do for you.” The man says a heartfelt thank you twice and turns back.

Inflation crisis

This month Alderman Rutger Groot Wassink (Reception) wrote a letter to The Hague together with his colleague from Utrecht. To point out the growing number of homeless people in the big cities. “All signals are in the red when it comes to the short term: the impact of the current inflation crisis will exacerbate the homelessness problem.”

Only hard figures are available, if at all. The concerns are based on what social workers like Marieke and Saskia see with their own eyes. And they signal that it is becoming more visible on the street. Marieke: “I think we can speak of an increase. It is of course a target group that is very difficult to visualize. We see some of those people, but there are an awful lot of homeless people who sit in boats, sleep in cars or hide in the parks. We don’t all reach them in the morning. Of course we have a bit of a distorted image because of corona. Then there was emergency shelter for these people. Everyone was allowed in during the lockdowns. When those centers were closed there are a lot of people on the street at once, but we do see a lot of people from Eastern Europe who have to sleep on the street.”

Winter is yet to come

The nights are getting colder, winter is yet to come. As soon as the temperature is around the freezing point, the outdoor sleepers have to go inside. “In the winter we also go out more evenings,” says Saskia. “To see if we can get people in. Yes, in the winter we can.” Provided there is enough space.