ChristopherBarnett

Okay so I'm pretty desparate at the moment. I'm currently living in a cheap hotel and I am REALLY trying to piece my life back together by finding work and then a home.

The problem is that it costs 20-50 Euros a night to stay here and it seriously isn't how I want to be living. Going day by day wondering if I can afford or even stay for the next night.

I need a base of operations so to say, a place here I can feel some sort of peace and really start to get things rolling.

I've been looking for work every day and the employment agencies will only take you if you can talk Dutch really well.

Now I can afford about 300-400 Euros a month maybe more if I just pay for one month and work my ass off to sort something out. The problem is that no landlord will allow you to rent from them unless you have a steady income. I have tried the route of staying at a friends place but they themselves are on welfare so it gets complicated.

I am literally sitting in a small hostel/hotel room with all of my belongings at my feet. I can't get welfare because I've not been here for 5 years and their system says I have not worked (I have worked delivering newspapers but it's not showing on their system.)

I REALLY need to work something out, get a temporary stable place in order to find a job. Heck I even asked this hotel if I could work here and my payment pays for a room but they said I can't work AND live here at the same time.

I've pretty much tried everything that I know of in order to get a place, a job or some source of stable income. I seriously need something to set me on a path but it just seems like I'm going around in circles

liveaboard

Search for a sublet, "onderhuur"
It's highly unlikely any landlord will rent you a place without a steady job. snowball in hell comes to mind.
You can thank the powerful Dutch tenants rights laws; thanks to them, if a landlord lets you in it's very hard and costly for him to evict you when you run out of money.

jonboy

Sounds like you will have to throw yourself on the mercy of the British tax payer if the Dutch tax payer will not sub you out?

ChristopherBarnett

lol

Red_Wine_Fairy

So you've been here 3 years but not registered? I can't see how you're not entitled, as an EU citizen, I think you most probably are. But the gemeente aren't paid for giving official guidance, only for saying what brainf*rt comes into their head at any given moment.

Get yourself to the Juridische Loket - Groningen is open on Mondays 9.00 - 11.00. It's the Dutch version of the Citizen's Advice Bureau - totally free, and they'll tell you what you're legally entitled to as an EU citizen. Tel: 0900-8020.

A sublet might be your cheapest option, if not strictly legal and you couldn't get benefit then. Or if you could handle sharing a place, try kamernet.nl (lots of student digs in Groningen? There's always drop outs in the first few weeks = empty rooms)

Red_Wine_Fairy

I guess you have a reason for staying in Groningen? It's pretty much the backside of the Netherlands, not a huge amount going on up there jobs-wise. You might fare better in another place, a little closer to the Randstad, or even an industrial city like Eindhoven or Tilburg?

ChristopherBarnett

I do have a reason yes. I have a BSN number and I'm registered with Groningen city.

The problem is that I can only afford about 350 Euros a month but most places want double that for deposit =/