Being homeless: it hangs like the sword of Damocles over the life of Mansa Saijo, 62 years old, from Tilburg. Until Thursday he lives in the former Jan Ligthart School on Ringbaan Oost. Last month he heard that he must make way for artists who will get a studio there. Mansa lives in an anti-squat, so he doesn’t have a leg to stand on: “I feel horribly screwed. Where do I have to go?”
Mansa has been living in the former school building with nine other residents for three years. He has already made quite a few wanderings through Tilburg, since he was seconded there for his work in 2006, from Groningen. “As a Groninger I couldn’t find 1, 2, 3 anything here, so that’s why I lived in rooms here during the week and I was home at the weekend.”
From the Paus Adriaanstraat via Westerpark: Mansa had to move every time. After his divorce, he lived permanently in Tilburg, anti-squatting in the old Jan Ligthart School for three years. The property is managed by Monoma, formerly Camelot, on behalf of the municipality of Tilburg. Anti-squat, so that means for Mansa that he can get a message that he has to get out within 28 days.
Because the municipality is making the former school available to Ateliers Tilburg, so that artists and creative entrepreneurs can work in it, Mansa and the other residents have to leave. On January 24, the time had come: “Then everyone here received the email that they had to go nuts.” The mail went wrong with Mansa. According to him, they could have warned the residents much earlier: “They knew much earlier that this building had a different purpose. Couldn’t they have said: guys, keep that in mind, look for another home?”
Of course Mansa knew the risks: “I spent three years trying to find something better. But I couldn’t do that.” He worked in the event industry and was unemployed for two years because of corona. And now he finds himself on the street: “That’s not a nice feeling. I’m 62, I want a stable life. I feel healthy, but I am not happy.”
Mansa points to a photo of his two grandchildren: “That they say: ‘Grandpa, you are homeless’. I can’t do that at my age, can I?”
The Bond Precarious Housing has taken to the fate of Mansa. Thursday, the day he will be on the street, there is a solidarity action at the Palace-Raadhuis in Tilburg. According to the union, the municipality is turning it into a musical musical chairs: “One flex resident out, the other flex user (Stichting Ateliers) in. As a result, scarce living space in Tilburg is disappearing again.”
But the municipality does not feel responsible for Mansa’s fate: “When entering into an anti-squat agreement, the period of 28 days is clearly stated. Monoma has a view of the other buildings of the municipality and whether there is space there, and can therefore relocate if necessary. The municipality has no further role in this,” she wrote in a statement.
Since he knows he has to leave, Mansa spends five hours a day looking for a new home, without success so far. He sees the future gloomily: “It’s no fun having to roam outside.”