One of the Netherlands’ wealthiest families is to pay off the debts of 1,000 Rotterdam families a year, via its network of charities.

The Van der Vorm family, which originally derived its wealth from shipping and the Holland America Line cruise empire, is said to be worth €9 billion by Quote. The family has a string of philanthropic organisations and will spend at least €8 million paying off debts, the AD reported. 

One family foundation, Stichting Nieuw Vaarwater, will deal with negotiations with the companies owned money while another, Fonds de Loods, will pay off the debt in one go. Families will not have to repay the money.

The programme is open to every family with at least one child and whose debts have been partly caused by a life-changing event, such as redundancy or death. Some 15,000 households in Rotterdam are said to have problematic debts. 

The Van der Form family earlier made €15 million available to help low income families pay fuel bills and has donated millions to various cultural and social projects in the port city. 

“We feel the responsibility to think about problem debt and solutions, together with society in general,” Bas Woudstra, director of Nieuw Vaarwater, told the AD. “Our mission is to make society stronger. We hope it will help people get their lives back on track. We can talk forever about why people have debt, but the fact is, children are suffering.” 

City social affairs chief Natasha Mohamed-Hoesein told the AD the council cannot solve the problems created by debt alone. “Poverty and debt are complicated problems in our city, and the solution is not simple.”

The council is not participating in the project but will point families who may qualify in the right direction.

Arnhem

The project is similar to one launched in Arnhem last month, in which the city council aims to clear the debts of some 40 to 60 families who live in the city’s poorest neighbourhood in a two-year trial to “break the toxic spiral of poverty”.

Erasmus University professor Godfried Engbersen told the AD that while such projects are both “good and necessary”, it is ultimately the job of the government to make sure people don’t run up debts. 

“If you improve people’s financial security by increasing wages, welfare benefits, and housing benefits, then we would not need this,” he said. “It does show the government’s failings.”