He thought he should have demonstrated at least a week in front of the town hall, but in the end it was only two days. Frans Lenaers sat down at Bladel’s Markt last Monday with a mattress, a trolley and a banner. He did it for a 70-year-old woman and her mentally ill son who had been homeless for 22 months. Thanks to the protest and the attention of the media, a solution was found.
“The family will be sleeping out at the market in Bladel soon,” read the white screen. Mother and son have been wandering for almost 22 months. Frans became acquainted with the family through his brother-in-law, who at the time was working in nursing and caring for his son. Since then, Frans has been concerned about the family’s suffering. He and his brother-in-law are now helping the family with temporary housing.
The question, of course, is why mother and son ended up on the street. Unfortunately, the reason is complicated, Frans says as he sits with a blanket under the banner. In short: the son caused a nuisance due to his intellectual disability.
They were evicted from their home due to complaints from an angry neighbor. Finding a new home was no longer possible because the real estate company Trudo had put the woman on a blacklist. “As a result, she can’t get a house in the Netherlands for five years,” Lenaerts said.
Vacation resort
But now a solution has been found. “After two days, I was called to the town hall,” the man tells Omroep Brabant. “For the first few months, mother and child will receive money from the Eindhoven municipality so that they can continue to live in the tourist villages.” A definitive solution must then be found starting from the new year.
Mother and child must be separated from each other for this. “There will be an assisted life for the child and now a separate living space is sought for the mother”. Ultimately, the solution comes through the municipality of Eindhoven and not through Bladel. This is because the family was originally from Eindhoven and was registered only with a postal address in the municipality of Bladel.
Frans Lenears is delighted that after months of talking to the authorities and traveling with his family, a solution has finally been found.
READ ALSO: Mother (70) and son threaten to end up on the street, Bladelnaar intervenes
