Mayors and judges seem more reluctant to evict people who stockpile drugs. Criticism of these housing closures is growing. The pandemic also made it more difficult to evict people.
'What is happening around housing closures cannot be. The law is being applied differently than intended'
Just before Christmas, the judge in Limburg temporarily put a stop to the decision by the municipality of Bergen to evict a mother and her underage son from their home for six months because drugs were found during a search. Officers seized 23.8 grams of hemp, nearly 28 grams of amphetamine and nine ecstasy pills after a tip-off. Also in the kitchen was a scale with plastic bags, often an indication of dealing.
Mayor Manon Pelzer decided to evict the residents from their homes, a power she has under Article 13b of the Opium Act, better known as the Damocles Act. It happened a total of four times in Bergen municipality in 2021. The goal is to stop drug trafficking from residential homes. The limit is 5 grams of soft drugs, just over five cannabis plants or half a gram of hard drugs. There were no warnings: Bergen applied the "one strike, you are out" principle.
Those on the street have to find new housing themselves. But in the town hemmed in by the Meuse River and the German border, affordable rental housing could not be found. Bergen suggested that the woman live in Germany or go to a homeless shelter. That went too far for the judge.
