Utrecht mayor: ban on street sleeping is fuelling more nuisance

Nuisance caused by homeless people sleeping outside in Utrecht has been escalating, with the number of reports more than doubling in a year. Reports include small tent settlements, open drug use, and public defecation. Mayor Sharon Dijksma says Utrecht’s politicians are partly to blame because they banned finning the street-sleepers, AD reports.

Residents reported 1,100 cases to the municipality. The nuisance has reportedly become particularly extreme around the Soweto bridge, Stationsstraat, Paardenveld, among other locations.

The people in Utrecht report being worried about open drug use, people urinating and defecating in the bushes, discarded needles, and loud behavior. Locals have also been seeing small tent camps in the city.

Mayor Dijksma is also concerned about the number of complaints. “My main concern is the people who cause serious nuisance and refuse help and care,” she said in response to questions from opposition party VVD group leader Tess Meerding.

Dijksma explained that the ban on fines for sleeping outside makes it so that she cannot simply intervene against, for example, the small settlements.

“Previously you could say from the very first moment, ‘This is not how it is supposed to be.’ Now the tent camp just keeps growing, and the nuisance arises.”