Over 200 migrant workers risk homelessness as The Hague orders agency's property evicted
Over 200 migrant workers in The Hague may soon end up on the street. The city has ordered the employment agency Jobcenter Haaglanden to shut down its residential complex in De Uithof. The employment center says it can’t find housing for the majority of the around 320 workers living in the complex and pleas with the city council to take responsibility for these people. Responsible alderman Martijn Balster says that this eviction has been two years in coming and the agency had ample time to make alternative plans, Omroep West reports.
The municipality of The Hague informed Jobcenter Haaglanden two years ago that it could not keep housing migrant workers in temporary housing on the former tennis complex on Jaap Edenweg. Two weeks ago, the city again summoned the employment agency to vacate. Now it seems that most of the workers have nowhere to go.
“Jobcenter is responsible for housing its employees,” alderman Balster told the broadcaster. “It is very irresponsible of Jobcenter that it has still not organized alternative housing, profits from the benefits of cheap labor, does not pay compensation for housing, and then shifts the burden onto the employees.”
Jobcenter Haaglanden paints a different picture, saying that “despite numerous requests for consultation and warnings,” the municipality has ordered it to close down its housing complex. Because this is at the municipality’s behest, the employment agency would like help from the municipality to find alternative housing for its workers. “We call on the municipal council and the [office of mayor and aldermen] to take responsibility for a sustainable solution for these residents.”
The employment agency said it has arranged housing for 60 migrant workers, but the remaining 260 people have nowhere to go. “We have been working day and night for the past two months to find a home for these people,” Jobcenter Haaglanden director Mümin Gezici told the broadcaster. “We are now looking to see if we can rent or buy homes somewhere, but it is proving difficult to find anything.”
But Balster has little sympathy. This eviction has been coming for two years, not two months. “For two years they have been renting out the homes without a valid permit and, as it turns out, without a plan to offer their own employees alternative housing,” the alderman said. “Now threatening to put these employees on the street is an absolute disgrace. And perhaps also illustrative of how badly employers in our region treat migrant workers. They are treated as disposable products.”
Gezici told Omroep West that he doesn’t want “a fight” with the municipality, but, he said, they have exhausted all their resources. “We cannot house the rest of the people without support, we are powerless.”
There have been many reports and warnings about migrant workers getting exploited in the Netherlands, with particular concerns raised about workers’ dependency on their employment agency for housing. At the end of last year, there were at least 6,000 homeless migrant workers in the Netherlands. The government is working on a law to tackle exploitive employment agencies but recently delayed its implementation to 2026 at the earliest.
