Frank’s regular place to sleep in the forest in The Hague is now suddenly forbidden by the NATO summit

Frank shows his room in the homeless shelter: a red and a green toy car on a ledge, the shoes in the line next to the bed, notebooks and other things on a chair. He says: « I have slept in the shelter three times before in this room. I can’t do that with other people. »

Frank, for example, had told Bea Summer of the Salvation Army and Jan van Oosten – Municipal Project Manager reception – earlier, normally sleeps outside, in green. He crosses the forests and parks of The Hague several times a day. But from Saturday a part of the Hague Bos and the Scheveningen Bosjes will be closed for a week.

There is a lot of time, money and energy in this top. You wish it would also be used to structurally tackle homelessness

During the NATO summit, the mayor of The Hague announced an emergency regulation for the area around the conference location and around the Huis ten Bosch Palace, including the forests. That means that only participants of the top get access after identity control. Everyone who comes normally, from dog walkers and runners to thirty to forty homeless people who live in tents – especially European labor migrants – have to leave. Whoever ignores the emergency regulation is warned and risk a prison sentence.

In other countries, during political tops and sporting events, cities are sometimes stripped of everything that is considered unpleasant. Paris brought thousands of homeless people to reception locations last summer, as far as Marseille. The Hague city council was worried: what would happen to the homeless people during the NATO summit?

Hotel rooms

Alderman Mariëlle Vavier (care, poverty, inclusion and international affairs, GroenLinks) says: « We quickly found out that the green areas fell under the emergency ordinance and that there was a need to move these people. It is quite a number, some have really arranged the place around their tent as home. »

That was not the only care: because the number of homeless people is greater than the number of reception places, the family shelter in The Hague is « very full » and the municipality of mothers with children catches up in hotel rooms. They wanted hotel owners back to be able to offer: The Hague expected 8,500 participants in the top. The families now sleep in neighboring municipalities and are brought to work and school where necessary with shuttle buses.

According to Vavier, the outdoor sleepers are partly ‘care aviders’ who do not trust the government. For months, aid organizations and forest rangers of the municipality and Staatsbosbeheer have been preparing them at the top. Jan van Oosten shows the app group of the care providers, with the name ‘NATO-top custom work’. Someone has just been spotted who sleeps under a bridge. On the one hand, the emergency regulation does not apply, on the other. Van Oosten says, « Sir will not understand. » One of the foresters knows the man and will give him a blue wristband, with which he can go to the shelter that has been set up for the next two weeks.

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For this, the building where winter care is consciously chosen, most of them know that. Bea Summer of the Salvation Army is in charge: « They know it is safe here. » She leads around through dorms, shows the large plastic bins where the homeless people can store their tents, the washing machines, the rules on a note on the wall « to be comfortable with each other ».

Now that it is summer, there are extra rules. For example, if the primary school goes in addition to the daycare, everyone must stay inside. Drinking alcohol and smoking weed is only allowed at a picnic table far from the school.

What the municipality and the care providers hope is that the thirty men and a few women are better visible. Alderman Vavier says: « We use this time to see how we can help them. Some have been homeless for quite a long time. »

Summer says: « Two weeks is not long, but we can build on what we used in the winter. Do someone want to detox, can we mean something else? »

All-inclusive

In the old school building, the British James and three Polish men are sitting at long tables in the former gym. The smell of food rises from the kitchen. One of the Poles tells his job to be lost when he became deaf to an ear. « It would be cheaper to send us all for a week on an all-inclusive to Egypt, » says James. « When I see Mark Rutte, I will discuss this. » Rutte, he says, he knows from the time he was still working in the hospitality industry and the then Prime Minister came to drink his Sunday Cappuccino.

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James finds it difficult: the shelter is on the other side of the city than the Scheveningen bushes, where he normally sleeps. « I see how this goes, maybe I am looking for something else. » Jan van Oosten of the municipality says that there are also homeless people who really did not want to go to the shelter and set up their tent elsewhere in The Hague.

With the organizations that deal with homeless people, they are satisfied with the care with which the municipality works. « A place has really been thought about and people have not just been deported, » says Jan de Vries of the street consulate. « The Navraant is that there can be a lot with such an event, there is a lot of time, money and energy in it. You would also like it to be used to tackle homelessness structurally. »

We use this time to see how we can help them. Some have been homeless for quite a long time

It is not, says alderman Vavier, that solutions are not being sought that year round. For European labor migrants who lose their jobs and therefore also their accommodation, a pilot with a subsidy from the Ministry of Social Affairs, where twenty beds are kept free. « This way, 212 people could find a new job and housing, or back to their country of origin, » says Vavier.

According to the alderman, the real problem is the housing shortage and a « cabinet that takes measures that don’t put a fuss ». There is also plenty of care for people with confused behavior, « so that people with an already marginal position become too homeless », and that in some sectors short -term contracts are still offered. « You have work for three months and you sleep on a mattress, then you are on the street. »

Frank is right on his bed in the shelter. « I really have a delicious sheet and comforter, » he says. « I completely relax after all that rain. I am so grateful. »

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