For the program ‘Europamagazin’ from the first public TV broadcaster ARD, SWR journalist Alexander Stenzel travels to Rotterdam to make a reportage about the so called Rotterdam Law.
The Special Measures Metropolitan Problems Act of 22 December 2005 is a Dutch law to regulate the number of low-income persons in urban residential districts, housing estates and streets. The law was conceived in Rotterdam and was nicknamed Rotterdam Law, because Rotterdam was the first municipality to apply it. The law permits the city council of Rotterdam to forbid people with a low income to live in poor neighbourhoods.
A young inhabitant of a rundown neighbourhood in Rotterdam explains that he is happy with his new apartment, that he does his best to find a job and that he does not understand why he might be kicked out of his place because he is too poor.
The lawyer of the young inhabitant explains that this new law is violating European human right laws and that he will fight for his client until the European court. The responsible Rotterdam alderman explains that the city hall does not want the poor ‘Rotterdammer’ to live in his neighbourhood, because a concentration of poor people might be bad for inhabitants that already do not have much money to spend.
For this background reportage Featurez gave advice, did the research, set-up and planning of the filming, booked a camera crew, accompanied the filming, did some of the interviews and translations.