In the coming years, the cabinet will put almost forty million in the care and guidance of homeless labor migrants from the European Union. That money must be spent on reception locations, guiding a new job in the Netherlands and returning to the home country, when finding a job here is no longer possible.
Eddy van Hijum Minister of Social Affairs and Employment was today visiting a reception location in West. He was shown around there by people from the Regenboog Group and talked to alderman Rutger Groot Wassink. “You see that in many cities the number of homeless labor migrants is increasing. The municipality places that for major problems for major problems and of course the people themselves,” he says.
In 2023 a test started with the care of homeless workers from the EU in six major cities, including Amsterdam. The cities together received seven million euros a year to catch this group. According to the cabinet, that pilot was successful. The majority of the participants found work or returned to the country of origin. That is why it is now being expanded.
Employment agencies
According to estimates from the municipality, about eighty percent of people sleeping on the street in Amsterdam is labor migrant from the European Union. That is a few thousand people. And that problem is exacerbated by employers or employment agencies that offer housing for as long as the contract runs, so that people end up on the street quickly when losing their job.
Van Hijum: “The way we deal with labor migrants has become too easy. It is cheap labor and also cheap to say goodbye to again. As a result, people end up on the street. That is what you as a cabinet are also involved. That is why we want to spend extra money on care and return to work. But we also have to do more in the area of housing for example.