The preliminary relief judge has ruled in favor of a homeless woman who lives on the street and in her car with her baby in the appeal she filed against the municipality. The municipality had rejected her request for a declaration of urgency, and thus priority for social housing. The judge has now decided that the municipality must consider this case again.
In February 2019, the woman married a foreign man and in September of that year he came to Amsterdam. The couple then moved in with the woman’s parents. Over time, tensions arose and that is why the woman and her husband were evicted from the house by her parents in December 2022.
Since then, the woman has been staying on the street and in her car. In July 2023, the now pregnant woman applied for an urgent declaration from the municipality and six months later she gave birth to a daughter. In the meantime, contact with her husband and her parents has been lost.
Request rejected
The municipality rejected the woman’s request because, according to the municipality, she could have prevented her housing problem. The municipality stated that the woman started a family without having suitable housing. In addition, she had her husband come to Amsterdam without having a suitable place to live. Therefore, according to the municipality, there was no force majeure and the request was rejected.
The woman states that the municipality’s decision is contrary to the Housing Act. According to her, it is the task of the municipality to structurally solve the housing shortage. She was homeless before she became pregnant. In addition, the pregnancy was not planned and she was put out on the street, so according to her there was a case of force majeure. The woman also accuses the municipality of not having sufficiently taken the interests of her child into account in their decision.
Municipality pushed back
The preliminary relief judge agrees to the woman’s appeal and annuls the decision previously taken by the municipality. The judge states that the municipality should have made a better reasoned assessment between the interests of the woman’s child and the cautious allocation policy of emergency declarations. During the hearing, it was noticed that the municipality’s lawyer said that the municipality does not want babies to sleep on the street or in cars and that the situation of the woman and her child is not tenable.
The judge must require the municipality to make a new decision on the woman’s objection, in which the interests of the child that has now been born are clearly taken into account. The municipality has six weeks to do this. The woman had also submitted a request for a provisional injunction, with which she wanted to obtain an immediate declaration of urgency, but the judge rejected this because he had already agreed to her objection. The municipality must also reimburse the woman’s court fees and legal costs.
2024-03-02 16:33:23
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