News

No Amsterdammer should live in poverty More than 20% of Amsterdam households live below...

The fact that capitalism is an unjust system is most apparent in Amsterdam’s housing. Hundreds of thousands of people have been on waiting lists for years, and rents and house prices are skyrocketing. The number of homeless people in Amsterdam has also doubled in ten years' time. People with small to medium-sized budgets are increasingly denied their right to the city. The current municipal policy is classist, racist and undemocratic. Amsterdam belongs to all Amsterdammers.

Recently, Amsterdam has taken its first deliberate steps towards decolonisation, such as the mayor apologising in 2021 for the city’s past connections to the slave trade. However, BIJ1 recognises discrimination is still a problem in Amsterdam. Police still racially profile, intimidate and endanger people of colour. Recently, the police gained even more power to use violence without independent oversight. Amsterdam's gentrification policies also drive away families and households that cannot pay the top price for their homes, and this is a problem that disproportionately hits vulnerable families, specifically families of colour.

In 2018, BIJ1 got its first seat in the Amsterdam city council in the name of Sylvana Simons, who handed it over to current party leader Jazie Veldhuyzen in November 2020. Jazie is supported by dual municipal councilor vreer verkerke, policy advisor Nilab Ahmadi and communication coordinator Hasret Emine, as well as volunteers Dorien Ballout, Frédérique Olthuis, Floor Boots, and Bernadette Raymakers. Together they form the Amsterdam BIJ1 party.