All 13 municipalities in the Holland Rijnland region are participating in a new survey on homelessness and people living on the streets
On Thursday, April 11, the Holland Rijnland region will participate in the national ETHOS survey on homelessness, led by Kansfonds and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. More than 60 organizations in Holland Rijnland are participating. The goal is to work together to gain insight into the actual size and nature of the homeless population. This will enable our municipalities to provide even better support in addressing homelessness.
“In the ETHOS count, homelessness is defined as a lack of adequate housing. As a result, the count also includes people who are often not currently included in the statistics,” explains Willem van Sermondt, program director at Kansfonds. “Last year, this type of count was conducted in the Netherlands for the first time. In the Northeast Brabant region, we discovered in 2023 that more than 40 percent of the homeless people counted were children and young people. It also turned out that nearly one-third of the adults counted were women. Furthermore, the largest group does not live on the street or in shelters for the homeless. They live with friends, family, in a car, garage, or in a mobile home. This is very different from the typical image people have. With these results, the participating municipalities were able to take targeted action.”
Alderman Hubert Schokker, Alderman for Health and Welfare: “Byinvolving as many different organizations as possible in our municipality in the count, we hope to identify everyone who is homeless or living on the streets. This will help us understand the scope and nature of the problem and develop appropriate policies to address it.”
Point-in-time count
The ETHOS count is what’s known as a point-in-time measurement, in which everyone is counted at a single moment. On April 11, more than 60 organizations in Holland Rijnland compiled a list of the people they know who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. These include municipal departments, the police, social service organizations, community centers, housing authorities, home care providers, and social workers. Because so many organizations are participating, we get a much more complete picture of the actual number of people who need help.
National Overview
The national results of the second ETHOS count will be presented to all participating municipalities and counting organizations on October 9. That is one day before World Homeless Day.