Claimants and low-paid banned from Dutch cities
- | 01.12.2003 12:30
The new solution to urban crime, slums, drug dealing: expel the entire low-income population from cities. New Dutch policies will undoubtedly be copied in the rest of Europe.
This morning the city of Rotterdam announced its new hard-line policies to combat immigration and urban decline. The unemployed, the disabled, pensioners, other claimants and the low-paid will be banned from moving into the city. The proposal does not affect existing residents, so long as they stay at their current address. If they have to move, for instance for urban renewal, then they can not be rehoused in Rotterdam.
From 2004 no-one can move into Rotterdam unless they have a legal job, and earn more than 20% above the national minimum. This excludes almost all claimants - unemployed obviously, but also disability allowances and state pensions. All workfare jobs are also excluded, they never pay more than 20% above minimum. Trainees, temp agency workers, low-skill industrial workers will also be excluded, they usually earn just the minimum. It is not clear if there will be exceptions for students. Many service sector workers, in health care and retail employment for instance, also earn less than 20% above minimum. Obviously all illegal workers are excluded.
The proposals have been greeted with enthusiasm at national level. A majority in parliament wants to introduce them in other cities. Total bans on claimants are new in Europe, although some German cities operate restrictive policies. Unfortunately these policies will probably be copied in other countries, because they appear to offer an instant solution to urban problems. No more drug addicts, no more street crime, no more decaying estates, no more problem children at school, just send them all away to somewhere else.
Of course, this has everything to do with the fact, that most claimants and low-paid workers in Rotterdam are immigrants. Initially the city wanted to simply ban foreigners, but that might be unconstitutional. Banning people on income grounds is legal, even if it is deliberately targeted at ethnic groups.
The policy is a delayed effect of the enormous success of the assassinated racist Pim Fortuyn. Rotterdam is declining economically, it is losing white population, and it will eventually have a Muslim majority. The city is run by a coalition of Pim Fortuyn's local party (Liveable Rotterdam) plus the Christian Democrats and the market-liberal VVD.
Some new policies are directed specifically at immigrants. In the first three years, they will lose all entitlement to benefits, but will still have to pay insurance contributions. They will also not be allowed to rent housing during this time. (To implement this policy Rotterdam needs enabling legislation).
If private landlords rent housing to illegal immigrants, the housing will be confiscated without compensation. The tenants will be evicted and sent to asylum-seekers centres - assuming they are not deported anyway. Rotterdam already has a special prison at the airport for illegal immigrants, but it is run by the national Immigration Service, not by the city.
There are other proposals in the pipeline. Right-wing parties are becoming increasingly clever at devising anti-immigrant policies, which allow them to legally discriminate. One suggestion is to limit the number of people in a dwelling who can get benefit. This affects large families or several people sharing a small flat, in both cases typically immigrants.
In addition, the city of Rotterdam wants power to veto immigrant marriages with people from the home country. Typically, this would involve the demand to learn fluent Dutch in Morocco or Somalia, before a visa is issued. Or immigrants might have to pay in advance (more than 5000 euro) for a citizenship course. Both of these tactics are under consideration at national level.
From 2004 no-one can move into Rotterdam unless they have a legal job, and earn more than 20% above the national minimum. This excludes almost all claimants - unemployed obviously, but also disability allowances and state pensions. All workfare jobs are also excluded, they never pay more than 20% above minimum. Trainees, temp agency workers, low-skill industrial workers will also be excluded, they usually earn just the minimum. It is not clear if there will be exceptions for students. Many service sector workers, in health care and retail employment for instance, also earn less than 20% above minimum. Obviously all illegal workers are excluded.
The proposals have been greeted with enthusiasm at national level. A majority in parliament wants to introduce them in other cities. Total bans on claimants are new in Europe, although some German cities operate restrictive policies. Unfortunately these policies will probably be copied in other countries, because they appear to offer an instant solution to urban problems. No more drug addicts, no more street crime, no more decaying estates, no more problem children at school, just send them all away to somewhere else.
Of course, this has everything to do with the fact, that most claimants and low-paid workers in Rotterdam are immigrants. Initially the city wanted to simply ban foreigners, but that might be unconstitutional. Banning people on income grounds is legal, even if it is deliberately targeted at ethnic groups.
The policy is a delayed effect of the enormous success of the assassinated racist Pim Fortuyn. Rotterdam is declining economically, it is losing white population, and it will eventually have a Muslim majority. The city is run by a coalition of Pim Fortuyn's local party (Liveable Rotterdam) plus the Christian Democrats and the market-liberal VVD.
Some new policies are directed specifically at immigrants. In the first three years, they will lose all entitlement to benefits, but will still have to pay insurance contributions. They will also not be allowed to rent housing during this time. (To implement this policy Rotterdam needs enabling legislation).
If private landlords rent housing to illegal immigrants, the housing will be confiscated without compensation. The tenants will be evicted and sent to asylum-seekers centres - assuming they are not deported anyway. Rotterdam already has a special prison at the airport for illegal immigrants, but it is run by the national Immigration Service, not by the city.
There are other proposals in the pipeline. Right-wing parties are becoming increasingly clever at devising anti-immigrant policies, which allow them to legally discriminate. One suggestion is to limit the number of people in a dwelling who can get benefit. This affects large families or several people sharing a small flat, in both cases typically immigrants.
In addition, the city of Rotterdam wants power to veto immigrant marriages with people from the home country. Typically, this would involve the demand to learn fluent Dutch in Morocco or Somalia, before a visa is issued. Or immigrants might have to pay in advance (more than 5000 euro) for a citizenship course. Both of these tactics are under consideration at national level.
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Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
who do they think will clean the toilets?
01.12.2003 13:47
laura
Full list of measures
02.12.2003 20:01
www.volkskrant.nl
www.rotterdam.nl
- all people with less than 120% of national minimum wage banned from moving into Rotterdam.
- emergency legislation for problem neighbourhoods, and appointment of special neighbourhood managers with emergency powers
- no more asylum seekers for 4 years
- if private landlords rent housing to illegal immigrants, the housing will be confiscated, without compensation. The tenants will be evicted and sent to asylum-seekers centres (if they are not deported anyway)
- 'anti-social' tenants will be evicted
- neighbours will be able to veto future tenants / residents before they move in.
- no permanent residence for immigrants without naturalisation. No naturalisation without first having worked for three years, legally buying or renting a house, speaking Dutch and having knowledge of Dutch culture.
- all immigrants must conform to Dutch values
- immigrants must perform unpaid work for Dutch organisations or businesses, as part of their assimilation process
- immigrants will not be allowed to move into areas which already have a high concentration of immigrants
- "threatened areas" must attract "desirable" (i.e. white) people. Gentrification will be actively encouraged. Social rental housing will be renovated and sold.
- problem housing blocks will no longer be available for rent, but will be allocated directly to "desirable groups"
- all immigrants will have a personal supervisor, who will control their behaviour and check if they have culturally assimilated. Note: the supervisor is not a public official but a volunteer, for instance a member of the Fortuyn party.
- immediate deportation of asylum seekers if their application is refused
- criminalisation of illegal residence in the Netherlands. Note: at present this is not a criminal offence, but the 'illegals' can be detained without trial, and of course deported
- illegal immigrants without documents will be subjected to "intensive interrogation" to discover their country of origin, and so deport them
- asylum seekers who are admitted to the Netherlands will not be allowed to migrate within the country (i.e. not move to Rotterdam)
- the age for compulsory education will be raised to 23. This does not mean that they stay in school - it means the city can force them to attend courses, and fine them if they refuse
- Dutch-Antillians will have to prove they have a job and a house, speak Dutch, and take an assimilation course. (People from the Dutch Antilles have a Dutch passport, so they can not be detained as illegal immigrants. Most of them speak Papiamento, a creole language related to Spanish).
- Antillians who do not meet these criteria will be detained in asylum seekers centres
- ethnic youth with 'problems' will also be detained in converted asylum seekers centres. The report does not define these 'problems'.
- no other immigrants will get a housing permit in Rotterdam until they have completed assimilation courses. (This means they can not legally rent or buy any housing). The assimilation courses are already compulsory, but only after the immigrants arrive.
- the city wants to have a veto on marriages with non-EU immigrants. The husband or wife already in the Netherlands must have a job, and legal housing. The immigrant partner must learn the Dutch language and 'Dutch traditions'.
- all marriage partners must be at least 21, and have an income of 120% of national minimum. Note: this is already national policy, in the Netherlands you are not permitted to marry poor foreigners.
- high-income households may rent all social housing. Previously there was an upper income limit, because the housing is subsidised. The idea is, that the rich will live into the social housing, which will be empty because the poor are banned from the city.
- there will be special loans to buy the empty rented housing, but only if you have a university degree
- identity cards will be introduced, and must be carried at all times. Note: at present there is no national identity card in the Netherlands, but you must carry identification in certain circumstances, for instance in trains, metro, tram or bus. Rotterdam has no authority to introduce identity cards, so this proposal is essentially a request to the central government.
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