Eindhoven opened the converted Zuidwester building on Cyclamenstraat on 14 October. Its 19 studios provide a temporary home for 19 people who were previously homeless. The building also brings back a neighbourhood room, the Buurtkamer, so that supported housing and a shared space for the district sit under one roof.
How the housing works
De Zuidwester is intended as an intermediate step towards living independently. Residents usually stay one to two years and receive guidance from the support organisation Springplank040. Jean-Pierre van Beers, interim director of Springplank040, said that having no fixed base, for example being forced to sleep on someone else’s couch, causes a lot of stress. With a place of their own, he said, people gain room to work on other things in their lives. Residents are expected to keep their own studio, the building and the surroundings tidy, and to be good neighbours.
Timeline
- The municipal executive chose De Zuidwester as a location for temporary housing in 2023.
- Conversion work began in spring 2025.
- The building opened on 14 October.
- All studios are expected to be occupied by January next year.
The Buurtkamer
With the Buurtkamer, part of the building’s former role as a meeting place returns. A team of local residents will manage the room. Jos Kuijs, one of its managers, described it as a place for neighbours, for activities and for meeting, run “for the neighbourhood, by the neighbourhood and of the neighbourhood”.
At the opening, alderman Giesbertz handed the symbolic keys to Van Beers and to Kuijs. “I am above all happy that we will soon be able to give 19 people a place,” the alderman said. He also said it was special to see how many people from the neighbourhood attended the opening.