Fewer and fewer Brabanders are turning to the food bank. This is because many people with a low income have more to spend due to various government measures. But the question is whether they have really improved. “Only people who have less than 10 euros per day to spend are allowed to use the food bank,” says Marc Vintegs of the food bank in Tilburg.
Sylvia expertly stacks a number of bags of groceries into her small black car. She has just returned from the food bank in Tilburg. “Some chips, dairy, coffee. We really need the help from the food bank, otherwise we won’t make ends meet.”
Together with Sylvia, about 600 people use the food bank in Tilburg. That is 40 percent less than last year, due to rising wages and allowances. But there is a caveat to this good news. What if you just miss out on the food bank?
At the end of 2022, almost 6,900 families were customers of a food bank in Brabant and Limburg. At the end of last year there were still 5,500. A significant decrease. For example, the number of customers at the food bank in Tilburg dropped from 1,000 to 600. “This is due to rising wages, increased benefits and higher allowances,” says Marc.
Good news, you might think. “On the one hand it is positive, but on the other hand there are still people who need help from the food bank,” says Marc. Another concern now is that people are no longer entitled to the food bank due to the increased allowances. And yet they still need the extra help to make ends meet.
When can you use the Food Bank?
Every year, food banks in the Netherlands calculate so-called allocation criteria. They agree with each other who can and who cannot use the food bank. Income is carefully taken into account. The so-called living allowance, money that people have left after deducting fixed costs (gas, water and electricity), is decisive.
If you have less than this living allowance to spend per month, you can use the food bank. To determine the living allowance, the food bank charges a basic amount of 200 euros per month per household, plus 115 euros per person belonging to that household. For a single person this amounts to 315 euros. “The living allowance is therefore approximately 10 euros per day. Only people who have less than 10 euros per day to spend are allowed to use the food bank,” Marc explains.
Homeless people, students living away from home, asylum seekers, refugees and people without (identity) papers are in any case not eligible for food support.
Dependent on food support
But what if, thanks to those increased allowances, you end up just above 10 euros per day? Then you are no longer entitled to help from the food bank, even though you actually do not have enough money to go shopping.
Sylvia, who has just put her groceries in the car, is afraid that she will be left out if the benefits increase even more. “What I bring here now, you can’t get for that amount in the supermarket. If we were no longer allowed to come here, we would have a huge shortage.”
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