The friends of Eva Hofmans (23) are a bit jealous as soon as they enter her new home. Not only does she live in an absolute prime location, right in the Jordaan, her apartment, at around 50 square meters, is also quite large for her alone. She also has a brand new kitchen and bathroom and beautiful wooden beams that support her 5-meter high ceiling.
The highlight is the rental price. “I pay 550 euros per month,” says Hofmans, laughing, but also somewhat concerned – a monthly rent of a few thousand euros would not be crazy for such a nice apartment. “And then I also get housing allowance. I have lived on my own since I was 17 and have moved seven times. I rented rooms of 10 square meters for 900 euros a month – sometimes I only had 20 euros a week left for groceries. The fact that I no longer have to worry about that, and I also don’t have to make a five-year payment arrangement if I ever have a dental bill, gives me a lot of peace of mind.”
Children’s hospice
Hofmans is one of the first residents of the newly renovated Lindenhofje, a complex on the Lindengracht that was built in 1616 as a safe place to live for so-called ‘needy widows’. In 1801, the RCOAK Foundation acquired it, an originally Amsterdam wealth fund – once founded as the ‘Roman Catholic Old Poor Office’ – that has been doing projects to support poorer and older people for about four centuries.
In the 1990s, the Lindenhofje was inhabited by the elderly and students, and for the last twenty years it has been a children’s hospice. “When the children’s hospice moved to Zuidoost three years ago, closer to the AMC, we had to come up with a new purpose for the Lindenhofje,” says Suzanne Kooij, director of the RCOAK.
“The idea at first was: we turn it into apartments that we can rent out for top dollar, so that we can use those proceeds to support all kinds of social initiatives. Then one of our administrators suddenly said: there is a major shortage of affordable homes for people who are important to Amsterdam, from teachers to police officers and nurses. Can’t we help them directly by providing them with affordable housing? We thought that was a really good idea.”
Renovation
The Lindenhofje has therefore been thoroughly renovated over the past year and a half. The many corridors, rooms, bathrooms and offices of the children’s hospice were demolished so that 21 independent apartments could be created, with an area between 27 and 60 square meters.
Rents vary from 415 to 588 euros, depending on the size of the home. “We wanted to keep prices as low as possible because of the modest salaries of employees in elderly care,” says Kooij. “This is possible because we financed the renovation, which cost 3.7 million euros, from our own funds. We then started calculating how much money we need annually to maintain the Lindenhofje. The rental prices only have to yield that.”
For the selection of residents, the choice fell on employees in elderly care or people studying for this, because of the background of the RCOAK as a fund for the elderly. Preventing abuse was a concern, says Kooij. “That there would be subletting, or that tenants would end up there. Of course, we don’t want anyone to live here after a while who has anything to do with the elderly.”
Dementia
To prevent that scenario, there has been a strict selection procedure by two healthcare organizations -Amstelring and Zorggroep Amsterdam Oost – and most apartments are rented for a maximum of five years to young people who work in elderly care or are studying in that direction, such as Eva Hofmans. She is training to become an art teacher and works two days a week at the Flevohuis nursing home in East. “I would ideally like to combine those two things, for example by doing something with art and elderly people with dementia.”
In addition to young people like Hofmans, there are seven apartments with a lease for an indefinite period, so that there is also a permanent core of residents of all ages who invest time and love in the Lindenhofje. One of them is Kajan van Walsum (26), who works at Amstelring. He has acquired a cozy apartment with a spacious kitchen and bedroom, which even fits a large desk. And: windows on three sides, so from his house he looks out on the Lindengracht, the Noorderkerk and the courtyard itself.
“I didn’t live in a bad place before this,” he says. “In a small back house on the Prinsengracht. Just… The price. I paid 1,457 euros per month, there was hardly anything left of my salary.”
The fact that he now spends 530 a month on his housing costs gives him the same peace of mind as Hofmans. “I was able to buy a new bicycle and I will probably start studying again soon: nursing. That was something I couldn’t even think about before I lived here. I now suddenly have money left over to do fun things with friends. To me it actually feels like I’m just beginning to live.”
History
The Lindenhofje at Lindengracht 94 has existed since 1616, but the buildings have changed considerably over the years. After the RCOAK purchased the building, a new complex was built in 1885.
The 19th-century facade still stands, but the building behind it was completely renovated in 1939. In 2004 it was extensively renovated when the Salvation Army opened a children’s hospice there and in the past year and a half it has also undergone extensive renovations to reopen the hospice. to be converted into apartments.
Hannah Stove has been updating since 2016 Het Parool. As a city reporter, she writes about the revival of Amsterdam’s squatting scene and changing shopping streets. She is also regularly found in court. Tips can send you to [email protected].
Tags: profession young people live Jordaan euros month groceries
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