Schuldenlab070
19 March 2022
Almost one in five households in The Hague is dealing with high debts (or is at risk of doing so). And that number is growing, with all the consequences that accompany debt. Contrary to popular belief, debt is not always the result of a bad spending pattern. People may get into debt due to, for example, increased fixed charges (such as increased rents, gas prices), but major events such as unemployment or divorce can also get people into trouble. Debt can also cause people to become isolated. Schuldenlab070 was founded to break the vicious circle and to find solutions to make people debt free; a debt-free future for every resident of The Hague.
Schuldenlab070 is a community of 27 partner organizations working towards a debt-free The Hague. These are both private and public organizations that jointly search for innovations and systemic breakthroughs to solve debt. The lab environment provides the opportunity to develop, test and scale up these innovations nationally.
Innovation depends on the space that is available to try things out. The partners in Schuldenlab070 work together as effectively as possible. The municipality is an equal partner in this and does not stand above the other organizations.
Schuldenlab070 has set up various methodologies and innovative projects, some of which have also been scaled up nationally:
- Social Hospital/Breakthrough Method
- Collective Debt Settlement
- Youth Perspective Fund
Some ongoing pilots and areas of focus are:
- The Breakthrough Mortgage (low-threshold and affordable mortgage types for people with a low income)
- GGZ & Debt (investigating the interface between debt and mental health issues)
- Debt-free from detention (start debt restructuring while in detention)
- Debt and women's shelter (realizing breakthroughs so that women in women's shelters leave the shelter debt-free).
Schuldenlab070 is more than projects and pilots. The essence of Schuldenlab070 lies in the public-private partnership, the focus on innovation and the pilot environment in The Hague. One of the challenges for the future is to ensure that other labs and partners are able to find and reinforce each other, so that different themes can be tackled in conjunction. It is important to find room in legislation and regulations for new possibilities.
More information can be found on this website (only available in Dutch).
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