This appeal was originally set up to collect the finances this homeless British Expat needs in order to sit the Habitual Residence Test which is between three and six months. The reason for that is a U.K. Rule possibly to prevent fraud and every U.K. resident who has lived overseas, has to sit if they wish to take up residence again in the U.K.
She is looking for a good Samaritan in Kemptown who has a spare room to offer in return for light cleaning duties, washing, ironing and cooking if required.
To read the original appeal and her story see
Hello and thank you for your time.
This appeal is for a British Expat who is both homeless and unfit for work. she is currently classified as homeless as she is using my sofa to sleep on, storing her suitcases behind it. Although she is on the waiting list for social housing, she has not been on it 8.7 years which would see her with offers. Without employment as her skills do not match those required in the Netherlands and she is not fluent in all aspects of the language, at 56 years of age, her likely hood of finding work in the future is lost. As such, she is living below the poverty line on a low income that is not benefit based, but a charitable act from the Dutch Government who are not obliged to pay her any finance to live from. On such a low income, she is unable to rent even the modest of small rooms, hence my letting her use my living room for her personal use and to sleep in. She cannot continue do this indefinitely as it has brought our friendship to breaking point and we have had long periods of non communication.
Her ill health includes Reynaud's disease, Emphysema, Bronchitis, Irritable Bowl Disease, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Malnutrition, High Blood Pressure, Anxiety, Panic Attacks (due to being robbed in the street). Depression is her shadow, as she has not the finance, a family or supportive friends in the U.K. who could help her with the financial side of things.
Now that the U.K. has decided to leave the European Union in what is known as the Brexit Vote, the likely hood of her being able to remain in the Netherlands as a 56 year old homeless and unemployed woman is slim. Adding to her plight, she has till the 31st of July when I have formerly asked her to leave this apartment, as I would like to have my apartment back, this temporary solution cannot become a permanent one. If there was any other way around her situation and I have tried many avenues with both the British Government as well as the Dutch Government, you would not be reading this appeal for help.
The help she needs is for a period of between three and six months in which she will have to sit what is called a ´Habitual Residence Test´ The same test Dutch Expats have to sit if they return to the Netherlands and have not lived in the Netherlands for more than five years. Difference is, in the Netherlands the test is for three months only. From the point of her returning to the point in which she is told she has passed the United Kingdom Habitual Residence Test, she is expected to financially support herself. The moment she informs the Dutch Government she is returning to the United Kingdom, the finance which is not a recognised benefit, stops immediately. Knowing of her poverty and not being in a position to help her financially, you can see how that can put a strain on the friendship we built up. Unfortunately she has not family or friends in the U.K. to return to and without the help she needs, she stands the chance if she remains in the Netherlands after the end of July of becoming destitute. If she returns to the U.K. without the finance she needs to support herself till she passes the Habitual Residence Test, she faces destitution. In the U.K., she has a chance of finding non skilled employment as she is British and fluent in the language. She also on her age and her health issues, a chance of being offered social housing once she passes the Habitual Residence Test.
Although a very clean, respectable and caring person who you would never guess was not working due to illness let alone homeless, she has found it difficult to form a group of friends who can support her, as homeless and unemployed carries a stigma here in the Netherlands. Many people are afraid she will ask them if they can help he in the future, we all know how that goes. It was an offer of help to let her use my sofa for a few nights that for me, turned into her being on my sofa since 2007. Just wish I was not in a financial predicament myself or she could remain on my sofa.
This is a genuine appeal for clean, kind and would go out of her way to help anyone British Expat who faces destitution at the end of July 2016.
Thanking you for reading this, it is a very stressful time for both of us. There is nothing worse than not being able to help another person in need and more so when it is a dear friend. A person you become fond of, who you have admired for their struggle to find work and to better themselves. Knowing I am the person triggering her destitution as much as the British Vote to Brexit, I feel I have to make this appeal to find the help she needs before it is too late.
For those of you who would like to help her repatriate to the United Kingdom, her urgency for help runs out on 31st July 2016.
Thanks again!