New data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) shows that 30.600 adults of working age in the Netherlands are currently homeless. This is a rise of 4.000 people compared to a year ago.

Homelessness was decreasing in the Netherlands until 2023

The number of homeless people in the Netherlands was actually on the decline from 2018 until 2023, but in the past year, the figures have begun to increase sharply. The numbers have increased particularly quickly among people from Eastern Europe - previously 5 percent of homeless people in the Netherlands were of Eastern European origin, but now they make up 8 percent of the homeless population.

Four in five homeless people in the country have foreign roots, which compares to just 55 percent of the general population of the Netherlands. “I would expect the war in Ukraine, high inflation and the housing market problems to now be reflected in the figures,” Junior Social Affairs Minister Maarten van Ooijen told broadcaster NOS. “The new figures are worrying.”

Eight in ten homeless people in the Netherlands are male

Eight in ten homeless people are male in the Netherlands, according to the CBS data, with more than a third being based in the Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague regions. 

The figures include people who are sleeping outdoors or in a car, in squats, holiday homes and people who stay at emergency shelters, as well as people who are staying temporarily with friends and family because they have nowhere to live.

Thumb image credit: DedMityay / Shutterstock.com