- It is still largely based on otherization.
- As an excuse, it assumes that intensive coaching or counseling is required and uses difficulty attracting staff as explanation why nothing is happening.
- It dedicates too much attention to cute, high-visibility activities, such as having mattresses for people to sleep on at city hall. Gimmicks.
- Illustrative is the Ethos count. Citing a lack of information on the extent of the problem as a reason for being unable to draw up appropriate hence effective policies, there is an annual count of homeless people to gather more information. The count is not Amsterdam-made, but please don’t use the count as an example of how much you are doing to resolve the issue: https://www.internationalhu.com/research/projects/european-homelessness-count
- The emphasis is on more of the same. Placing mattresses on the floors of sports halls during the night does not solve anything.
- It appears that a giant number of people, mostly civil servants, is looking into and talking about the issues all day and every day. Externally, too many businesses and organizations are involved in the margins that make money off the issue.
- Rules and regulations not only strangle them, they are also used as an excuse. There doesn’t seem to be a real drive to change things, just an obligation to do “something”. There is no real motivation to make something work. An example is a project in which fire safety regulations played a role. Solve it. Period. Don’t use it as an excuse.
- It seems to focus only on people who are in the BPR or were when they became homeless.
A few minutes after I wrote the above, someone published this:
