About us
Who we are?
Job Heimans (De Fundering) and Steven Steenbrugge (Studio Steenbrugge) met around the drawing board when they together transformed the old Volkskrant building into the Volkshotel ten years ago.
The successful realization of sleeping places for tourists made them increasingly concerned about the poor facilities for asylum seekers in Ter Apel and the homeless in cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Berlin. That is why they started setting up a cheap, practical and efficient shelter facility that does offer privacy and is humanely furnished: the Emergency Cabin.
Project manager Stefanie Nijenbandring de Boer joined the team to further develop the idea, test it and bring it to market. For years she has campaigned for the housing of artists in Amsterdam, a target group that is slowly being driven out of the city by sky-high rents for studio and living spaces.
The organisation
The organization will formalize itself into a non-profit foundation. Our commitment is non-commercial. The units can be purchased or rented ready-made in the future. The construction drawings are also made available free of charge. The aim is to offer the units cheaply and sustainably to social organizations at a national and international level. In addition to (emergency) shelter for (economically) homeless people, the cabins could also provide support in the future for refugees and/or people with a residence status who have to temporarily wait for a home.
In a prosperous country like the Netherlands, it should not happen that people cannot be offered a decent bed and are forced to sleep on the street. The team’s motivation is that the Emergency Cabins is an effective and cheap solution for (local) governments that they simply cannot ignore.
Pilot project 2024
We are at the beginning of development. A first prototype of the Emergency Cabin should be made in 2024. In order to test, optimize and further develop these, we will start a pilot project in early 2024. Our intended collaboration partner is the organization De Regenboog Groep, which is committed to vulnerable Amsterdam residents. Together with them, we are currently looking for a party that will make real estate available for the pilot.
Searching for real estate
In 2024, we have set ourselves the goal of realizing eight to sixteen units in an empty building and making them available to a group of economically homeless people in Amsterdam for at least a year. These are people with work and income, without a high degree of other care problems, who are structurally homeless and would benefit from a permanent temporary residence in the form of the Emergency Cabin. The allocation to users and the provision of additional assistance will take place under the guidance of the Regenboog Groep. They will also organize the daily management. The installation, associated permit applications and overall maintenance will be done by the Emergency Cabins Foundation.