Residents of Startblok Riekerhaven in Amsterdam protested this afternoon at the headquarters of housing association De Key. The residents also went on rent strike earlier. Students and status holders who live at Riekerhaven do not feel safe in the complex. During the storm last month, a large part of the roof blew down, but problems have been there for some time.
On February eighteen, storm Eunice rips off entire roof panels from Startblok Riekerhaven. A complex where families with young children also live. Residents feel unsafe there anyway. The Startblok has subsided, for example, so that doors can no longer close and everyone can just walk in – whatever happens – there are sinkholes in the sidewalk and there are rats, cockroaches and carnivorous ants.
Dozens of residents refuse to pay rent any longer, and demand that housing association De Key do something about the problems. To reinforce the demands, there was a demonstration in front of the doors of De Key this afternoon.
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One of the protesters is Bambi. “We demand a full inspection of the buildings by an independent inspector, for safety reasons. We want the street harassment that has been going on for a long time to be addressed and we want the deferred maintenance to be made up.”
De Key is in talks with the residents, but according to Lidy van der Schaft – housing director at De Key – that has never been different. “We talk to the residents every day. And solutions will be found, but many things are repeated. For example, a pest infestation that repeats itself, or ditches that are broken. The sinkholes, we know all about that. That is the ground that does that. We’re making that again. So we’re really making the things that need to be made.”
But the residents are holding their ground. There is way too much deferred maintenance. And as long as nothing changes in the situation, no rent will be paid.