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
left Portugal on a repatriation flight to the Netherlands, where his friends and children were unable
to accommodate him because of the Coronavirus measures. “And I don’t blame them for that”, he
says.
Zwerver first ended up in the dormitories of the regular homeless shelter, where he had to leave
after breakfast. He would read all afternoon until he could go to a night shelter in the evening. Many
other residents moved from the night shelter to a neighborhood center, but the outbreak measures
made it more difficult: community centers and libraries closed, and people had to stay at home as
much as possible.
But staying at home is impossible for the homeless. That is why Valente, the industry association for
homeless shelters, called on to arrange hotel care for this group of people. Several municipalities
responded to this. The guests pay a regular daily contribution, less than 6 euros, which they also
have to pay for regular night care. “These are our nicest guests ever”, said the manager of the Schimmelpenninck Huys, about his new guests.
