Sam Valk (22) drives her blue Volkswagen van through Breda: “This is my future home.” In six months she wants to live in the van, not out of luxury but because the rents are too high and she cannot possibly afford to buy a house. “It is a solution to a very dire problem.”
Sam bought the van for 7,000 euros. It is now still a moving ruin. There are rust spots and holes everywhere, it is anything but livable. “I gave myself six months to renovate,” says Sam as she drives to the workshop. “Insulation is the most important thing, because it is not only for the summer, but also for the winter.”
“Even though it is small, it is my own.”
She is treating the rust spots with a brush. The next steps are a solar panel, so Sam can charge her phone, and heating. “I really have to be able to live in it.”
After four years in a student house, Sam would like to have a place of his own. “But I can’t afford anything. The rents are simply too high and social housing has enormous waiting lists. In addition, your money disappears into a black hole when you rent, nothing is yours.”
Then buy a house, you might say. “I’ve put that out of my mind for a long time. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford a house.” All Sam wants is ‘a box’ that she doesn’t have to share and that is her own. “And that is this bus. Even though it is small, it is my own.”
“It feels liberating.”
Before she can leave her student room, she still has a lot of work to do. “But that’s a lot of fun, I’m really building my own place.” She proudly shows off her mobile house. “Here’s my front door,” she says as she slides open the side door. She steps into her six square meter house.
At the back of the bed, near the front door the kitchen and the passenger seat can soon be turned around and that will become the place to eat. And the toilet and bathroom? “My dream is that I can get a place with a farmer for a small price and that I can take a shower there. And you have portable toilets, not ideal but it does what it’s supposed to do.”
She will also have to find a solution for her official home address. ‘Full-time travellers’ must have a postal address for their mail, but this is only valid for a limited time in most municipalities. If you provide friends or family as your home address, they may miss out on benefits or have to pay more tax.
Sam simply sees the van as a solution to her housing problem. “It’s really popular now to live in a camper or van, but I just want my own place and not pay a lot of rent.” Ultimately it also has advantages, Sam knows. “I can go wherever I want and I can also go on holiday with it. It feels liberating.”
One day she hopes to be able to live in a real house: “But I’m afraid that won’t happen in the Netherlands.”
