Sanne Holwerda (21) lives with her one-year-old son in an apartment where there is mold on the bedroom walls. This has consequences for their health: they have lung problems and have to use a puffer.
What Sanne is currently doing in her apartment in the Boerhaavewijk in Schalkwijk can best be described as camping in your own home. “Camping? Call it dying,” she responds dryly.
Because there is moisture on the windowsill and mold on the walls and net curtains in the bedroom, Sanne has moved her double bed to the living room. There is therefore no room to walk.
But of all the inconveniences, this is perhaps the most innocent. She finds it much worse that her health is deteriorating. She has lung problems, is permanently hoarse and her voice has changed. She has a puffer to promote breathing. “That helps, but I can’t work. I’m currently home sick.”
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Although her own health is a constant source of concern, she is more concerned about the well-being of her son. Fortunately, she can take him to her parents or in-laws every now and then. Not permanently unfortunately, they live too small for that.
Her apartment, full of damp spots, is scheduled to be demolished. Sanne knew that when she moved in, but she had no choice. She lived with her grandfather and when he died, she ended up on the street.
“We are sent from pillar to post”
The Haarlem resident has to pay 630 euros in rent every month. “For that amount you can assume that, despite the demolition plans, they will still do some maintenance?” Not so, according to her, property manager Gapph and owner Elan Wonen always point at each other when she raises the moisture problem.
Cabinet to the wall
The Boerhaavewijk Neighborhood Team, which supports Sanne, also says it has raised the problem several times. “But we are sent from pillar to post. Gapph refers us to Elan, and Elan says that we have to call Gapph. It is driving us crazy, according to a spokesperson. According to Sanne, the GGD has also tried to mediate: without good luck.
Sanne would like to lead a normal social life, but she no longer dares to invite anyone to her home. She has to admit honestly: friends are of course not eager to visit her in her moldy house. And to think that the situation is already a lot better than a few months ago.
Sleeping in a ski suit
Then she was also left in the cold after the central heating failed. Sanne: “That took a few months, we had to heat ourselves with gas heaters, my son slept in a ski suit at night. It turned out to be quite a job to solve it, but I must honestly say that Elan solved it in the end.
“As long as we get out of here as quickly as possible, because this is not life”
Sanne focuses her attention on the future. She doesn’t look bad, because she is nominated for social housing. She expects to be able to move in there with her son within six months, probably also in her familiar Boerhaave district. It will benefit her health. That is necessary, because she also wants to go back to work, probably in the catering industry. “As long as we get out of here as quickly as possible, because this is of course not life.”
Real estate manager will ‘solve it as quickly as possible’
A spokesperson for property manager Gapph from Den Bosch, who maintains Sanne’s home, said in a response that they wanted to provide a quick solution. He says he is not aware of emails and calls, neither from the neighborhood team, nor from Sanne herself. The spokesperson therefore does not recognize the criticism.
“A few weeks ago we tipped Sanne to heat properly, ventilate and treat the damp spots with HG,” says the spokesperson. “If that didn’t work, we would come to the situation ourselves. Because we didn’t hear anything anymore, we assumed that the problem had been solved. But this morning we suddenly received a call from the VRK (Kennemerland Safety Region). who told me about the still existing mold problem. I immediately contacted Sanne to make an appointment. Unfortunately, she had to leave, otherwise we would have already gone by this afternoon. Now it will be next week. We will certainly solve it, because we don’t want it to be at the expense of their health.”