International

SP Member of Parliament Sadet Karabulut is attracting increasing support for her fight against the agreement between the government and the European Commission which effectively excludes those on average incomes from consideration for social housing. Latest to speak out is the public broadcasting corporation VARA’s Ombudsman, who joins a majority of MPs in expressing support for Karabalut’s call on Home Affairs Minister Piet Hein Donner’s to return to Brussels to ensure that social accommodation is also available to people earning incomes which, while lifting them well above the poverty line, are insufficient to enable them to buy their own homes.

Karabulut is pleased with this latest show of support. “All support is needed,” she says. “Donner refuses to respect the wishes of a majority in Parliament who want to see him arguing at European level for a higher income threshold. That’s showing contempt not only for the legislature but more importantly for the people on modest incomes who are now being forced out of the social rental sector. These people fall between two stools, as they often do not earn enough to be able to buy their own apartments, while private rentals are unaffordable. It’s good that the Ombudsman is showing sympathy for such people. Donner should be sticking up for tenants and for our neighbourhoods and not hiding behind Brussels.”