Klaas Kwadijk, former director of Burmerund Housing and Welfare (SWZP), is alarmed by the closure of housing groups for vulnerable older people across Europe. On Monday, May 13, he wrote a letter to the city council to preserve the four group homes. Kwadijk: “It is incomprehensible that SWZP, which is responsible for the homes, would cancel the rent without any prospect of providing alternative accommodation. A small-scale facility that works well for frail elderly people is being destroyed because the rent is said to be too high.”
The active role of the municipality in the beginning
Back to how it started. “It was the municipality of Purmerend that took the initiative, in cooperation with the Welfare Office, about 20 years ago to realize a new form of housing, care and well-being for these resident groups. Now the council is sitting still, as is clear from their answers to Councilor D66 Wildschut’s questions.” B&W is making efforts to find alternative housing, but at the same time refers to the Welfare Office and SWZP, which are responsible for the Long-Term Care Act in accordance with the Long-Term Care Residential Units and Financing Act.
Destruction of capital
Your quadgear doesn’t go far enough. He believes that the municipality should take effective action by calling SWZP Foundation, Wooncompagnie Housing Association and the health insurance company to account for their responsibilities. For he writes: “Houses as beautiful for small-scale living as those found in the whole of Europe cannot be found anywhere else. It also costs a lot of money to make the ground suitable for regular rental again across Europe.”
Very little shelter
Kwadijk: “Wooncompagnie can be held responsible for the rent you ask for. After all, the housing association has a social function. Anything is better than the open, because there is very little shelter for this target group in Burmerend and the region. In an extreme case, it can Agreeing on a transition period to search for solutions I cannot imagine a place in the whole of Purmerend where 24 frail elderly people could be moved in the short term without harming others.
About the message of Klaas Kwadijk here To read everything.
Photo editing: E. Royce
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