The 'Annabel' Singer Who Slept in a Caravan

Hans de Booij is a Dutch singer who was popular in the 1980s and is best known for the song Annabel. He also had a hit with Thuis ben. In June 2023, when he was 65, Omroep Brabant and Hart van Nederland reported that he had nowhere permanent to live and was sleeping in a caravan.

The cause, as the reports describe it, was the coronavirus period. His income from performing almost disappeared, and he also caught the virus, after which he could not work for a long time. As a result he could no longer pay the rent on his apartment. He described himself as being at the end of his tether.

Before the caravan he had stayed with friends in Heusden, but he did not want to remain there because they were entitled to their privacy. He hoped for a social rental home, though for that he needed an official urgency declaration. The caravan was only a short-term solution, because he would have to leave it at the end of the summer when it turned too cold.

He said he was under stress and that his creativity had fallen sharply. He feared having to go to a night shelter for homeless people, or even to sleep under a bridge. He called his story a cry for help and said he hoped that a homeowner might be willing to help him.

One did. After reading about his situation, a property entrepreneur from Fijnaart, Gerard van der Horst, offered him a home. It was a modern terraced house in the centre of the village, with solar panels and full insulation. De Booij could move in from 1 September and live there for a year without paying rent, with Van der Horst covering the costs.