Tours through a homeless past

 

Homelessness in Utrecht

 

An estimated 100 million people were homeless worldwide in 2005.

In Western societies the largest majority of homeless are men (75-80%) single males being particularily over-represented.

In The Netherlands, before 2010, the exact numbers of homeless were not registered. But it is widely accepted that the numbers have decreased dramitically since the 90s.

As fourth largest city in the Netherlands, Utrecht has had a long struggle with homelessness. Homeless people would mainly gather around Hoog Catherijne, a large urban shopping area connected to the central station. Underneath these shopping mall was the infamous "Junk Tunnel" located. But Utrecht is not only known for its horror stories surrounding this tunnel, but also for their progressive take on dealing with these issues. The leading man of this new attitude was Hans Spekman, a former alderman of the city counsil. Under his watch free hostels, userspaces and free heroin programmes were set up. On the following pages you can learn more about this shift in attitude towards homelessness.