Netherlands

Compared with other countries, the Netherlands has a relatively minor homelessness problem, although homelessness has increasingly become an issue since the 1980s. Whereas the number of homeless people was estimated at 15,000 during the 1960s, during the 1980s and 1990s the estimated number was increasingly higher, and experts feared that by 2000 the number would increase to 50,000 out of a total population of almost 16 million. Politicians and other citizens were shocked.

For years, debate focused on whether the problem of homelessness had merely become more visible because of the concentration of homeless people in city centers or whether the problem had actually worsened. Even today, we cannot answer this question with hard figures because in the Netherlands, no reliable data are available on the number of homeless persons. However, registration data of homeless shelters indicate that during the last few years the number of applications has risen and that the number of people who have been turned away because of lack of shelter capacity has also increased. The Salvation Army has estimated that there are 60,000 homeless persons in the Netherlands. Another study estimated 15,000 homeless [Page 413]persons. However, these estimates are based on different definitions of homelessness and have been calculated by different methods.

Homelessness is a relatively minor problem in the Netherlands probably because of the relatively high levels of social services, such as housing for lower-income groups, social benefits systems for the unemployed and disabled, and the National Health Service. The moderate degree of homelessness in the Netherlands, however, does not lessen the serious nature and the relative persistency of the problem. Undeniably, homeless persons are more visible on the streets today than they were twenty years ago. Few homeless people have simple problems, such as merely lacking accommodation or having financial troubles. The problems of the homeless are almost always complex and distributed across practically all areas of life. However, few homeless children or entire families end up living on the streets. The social security system and other social services prevent persons with simple problems from becoming homeless in large numbers.

1N = Total sample

2 Includes staying with family or friends