‘The homeless are the nicest hotel guests we’ve ever had’
The Schimmelpenninck Huys hotel in Groningen has been accommodating the city’s homeless for a month Translated by Racheal Adeniyi Thirty years ago, Jan Zwerver (55) celebrated his wedding in the Groningen hotel Schimmelpenninck Huys. Jan is now staying the night again, in a chic hotel room in Groningen’s city center, but as a homeless person during the Coronavirus outbreak. “It’s great here,” says Zwerver, laughing. As reported by the NRC. The sixty rooms of the Schimmelpenninck Huys were fully booked for the coming months with conference visitors, musicians, and tourists, but those guests stayed away because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, in Groningen’s homeless shelters they had the opposite problem: it was too cramped for too many people with vulnerable health. After a call from the municipality, about twenty-five to forty people are now utilising the hotel. The Schimmelpenninck Huys has been a 24-hour shelter for the homeless in Groningen since the beginning of April. Zwerver was in Lisbon last year to start a catering business, but unfortunately lost his job due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Shortly after that his savings had run out, and he eventually lost his home. He ...
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