On sunday 9 june, the apartment on the Da Costastraat 137H was squatted. This apartment was empty for many years and is owned by a person who has 22 properties in his own name. There is also a company that is registered on his name which has another 99 properties.

The main reason that we have taken this action is to provide ourselves with housing. We would rather rent the house for a reasonable price. Nevertheless, there are still a number of points that we would like to raise.

In Oud-West (Old West), the waiting time for a social housing is up to 14 years. Oud-West is therefore one of the districts where the number of social housing has since long dropped down under 35%, the boundary where there is a mixed district. Unfortunately, this is already a reality in large parts of the city. For example, this lower limit has already been passed in large parts of the Centre, West, South, and Ijburg. In West, in addition to Oud-West, the Baarsjes are also important. This is something we are worried about.

A poignant example is the wasteland on the Jan Pieter Heijestraat, where the 35 social housing units were demolished in 2009. Instead of new houses coming back to replace the demolished ones, it turned out to be for the construction of a hotel. Now, 10 years later, this plot is still vacant.

In recent years, the neighbourhood has been hit hard by gentrification. With dirty marketing tricks such as the Hallenkwartier, the district is being sold at an expensive and increasingly unaffordable price. The city is increasingly becoming a kind of amusement park for tourists and big money where residents come in last place. As usual, people with less money are hardest hit and are allowed to work in the city, but living is too much to ask for.

Nevertheless, by taking matters into our own hands, we now have a temporary solution for living and giving a home a new meaning.

Some squats in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/NL/squated/squat

Some squats in Amsterdam: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/city/amsterdam/country/NL/squated/squat

Groups (social center, collective, squat) in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/NL

Events in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/NL

Indymedia: https://www.indymedia.nl/node/46212