No more homeless people in Rotterdam by year's end

Rotterdam is taking the last of its homeless people off the streets. There should be none left by the end of the year.

When the city started its homeless programme in 2006 there were an estimated 2,900 homeless people wandering the streets of Rotterdam. Since then more than 2,700 have been given shelter.

Now Rotterdam wants to convince the about 200 remaining homeless people to accept some form of shelter by the end of the year.

Of the 2,700 homeless people taken off the streets almost half is now in a stable situation. For problematic cases there is the so-called Time Out programme. Every year about eighty people go to a home in Hummelo where they get intensive treatment and they're given the chance to gain work experience.

But the care at Hummelo costs about 5,000 euros per person, which a member of the opposition party Leefbaar Rotterdam in the city council compared to a stay in a five-star hotel. Dries Mosch said the taxpayers should not be asked to pay for "vacations for the homeless".

City alderwoman Jantine Kriens (Labour) said the treatment at Hummelo was actually less expensive than a similar treatment would have cost under the regular health care system, and more importantly, it is very effective.

Rotterdam is not alone in trying to eliminate the problem of homeless people. It is part of a concerted effort which also includes Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.