Mold houses in the Patrimoniumstraat in Appingedam, where residents at 24 addresses have been waiting for years to see whether their house will be demolished or strengthened. “From the pans to the tea towels, my kitchen is a mold nest.”
A striking sight in the Patrimoniumstraat in Appingedam. Newly built houses have been built at the beginning and end of the street, but in the middle of the street there are twelve semi-detached houses from 1939. From the outside, little seems to be wrong, but the houses with wooden frames are as leaky as a basket.
Moisture and drafts have been causing problems for four years. “We have a lot of trouble with mold here. You’re in for an accident, but it remains cold,” says Alja Kuiper (55). She has the lung disease COPD, which further complicates living in her mold-prone home. “I just returned from nine weeks of rehabilitation in Beatrixoord, but after a week here I had problems with my lungs again.”
Uncertain future
The total of 24 homes on Patrimoniumstraat are hopelessly outdated. But while the new houses around it were built four years ago, it is still not known whether the dilapidated houses will be strengthened or demolished. The residents crave clarity.
In the meantime, Kuiper is battling mold in her home. “From the pans to the tea towels, my kitchen is a nest of mold. It is also on all kinds of walls. And the entire basement is full of them.” The cause is known: water under the kitchen floor. Landlord Marenland found repairs too expensive due to the uncertain future of the house.
‘Candles just flutter in the living room’
But Marenland no longer exists. The housing association was dissolved on November 1 (see box). Now that landlord Groninger Huis has taken over everything in Appingedam, the affected residents hope to find a solution soon.
Amanda Krist (30) is in the same boat as Alja. It is very drafty in her house. “I have mold in the shower. A cleaner came in the summer, but in no time the mold was back.” According to her, Marenland advised to turn on the heater. “While it’s high summer, right? And now that it’s autumn, my feet are always stone cold. When I light candles, the flames just flutter. I’m so tired of it.”
‘Having to throw away boxes full of clothes and toys’
Patricia (32), who wants to keep her surname to herself, also effortlessly lists the problems in her house. “It smells like mold and it’s everywhere. In the bedroom, in the shower, near the ceiling and on the floor. Marenland has let us down. We are the victims of their maintenance deficiencies.”
She thinks it is even worse for her two sons, aged 4 and 12, than for herself. “Boxes full of clothes and Playmobil were covered in mold, I had to throw everything away. All memories gone,” says Patricia, bowing her head. Her children sleep in bed with two duvets and a fleece sweater on. “I hear them coughing every night.”
‘So they don’t do it like Marenland’
Do the tenants hope that the misery at the 24 addresses will be resolved now that it is Groninger Huis’s turn? “It doesn’t get any worse than Marenland,” says Amanda. Patricia has a proposal: “I want someone from Groninger Huis to come by so that we can show all the defects.”
Kim Velleman, who has been campaigning for affected tenants in Appingedam for some time and became politically active with the SP, wants to talk to the housing association in January about what should be done with the houses. “So that they don’t do it the way Marenland did it. People just want clarity.”
Marenland dissolved
Woongroep Marenland was dissolved on November 1, 2023, after more than 100 years of existence. The housing association proved unable to cope with the task of reinforcing countless rental properties in the earthquake area. In recent years, there have been complaints about the treatment of tenants and the condition of new-build homes.
All 2,130 rental homes and other buildings in Eemsdelta and Het Hogeland are divided among four other housing associations: Goud Wonen (169 homes), Wierden and Borgen (440 homes), Acantus (724 homes) and Groninger Huis (797 homes). Marenland employees are also moving to one of the four corporations.
Response Groninger House
Director Laura Broekhuizen of Groninger Huis has received signals about the problems in the mold houses. “We are now going to delve deeply into that. We take care of repairs right away. We will investigate the bigger question of what will happen to the homes, also at the NCG. And that won’t just happen next year during the summer holidays, it will happen soon.”
Broekhuizen does not know why the twelve semi-detached houses were not demolished and newly built like the rest of the street. “Unfortunately, that is unclear. But since November 1 we have taken over and we are working on a solution.”