The parking lot of the Sportpark in Heemstede has made way for about 22 container homes. The first containers have been set up and some 44 Ukrainian refugees will temporarily live there in the near future. At first that’s nice, although the emergency housing doesn’t look very big. “It looks very small from the outside.”
“Ridiculous”, thinks Rosalinda Huider from Hoofddorp that refugees are received in these containers. She has just seen the physiotherapist and does not understand that you can accommodate people in such small buildings.
“It looks very small from the outside and it looks like they are locked in. And if there is a kitchen and a bathroom in that building, what kind of space do you have left? I don’t see the added value in this.” Also on NPO Radio 1 sounded critical about the houses in Heemstede.
Self without a home
Ellen Boere looks at a different side of the story. She can well imagine what it would be like to not have a home for a while because she was once in such a situation herself.
(In the video, Ellen says she can imagine the situation of the refugees)
Ellen Boere can imagine the situation of refugees well. – NH News
The municipality of Heemstede has announced that it prefers to talk about emergency housing rather than container homes. In the place there are two places where the emergency housing will be. At the Kohnstammlaan there will be 8 and in this parking lot there will be 22. Each unit has sanitary facilities and cooking facilities. There is room for two adults and a young child.
(Reporter Michael van der Putten himself took a look at the houses)
According to Mayor Nienhuis, the emergency homes will in principle remain in place for between six and nine months. A permanent solution is still being considered. According to her, the emergency housing offers good accommodation for the reception of refugees and there is more space than the guidelines of the COA prescribe. The mayor is absolutely not afraid of nuisance.
“Heemstede now has extensive experience with the reception of Ukrainian refugees and the contact between residents of Heemstede and the Ukrainians is heartwarming.”
Physio loses parking spaces
The parking lot at Sportpark Heemstede has had to lose a lot of space for the emergency housing. But despite the fact that they ‘sometimes hear complaints from customers’ at the physiotherapy practice Nieuw Groenedaal, the practice does not foresee any problems.
Employee Yvonne Noort is above all ‘glad that we can offer them a place to stay’ because, she says: “Suppose we are in need, then you also want to be helped.” The fact that the houses are a bit small does not bother her. “You especially want to help those people.”
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says from experience that the quality of emergency shelter varies enormously per place and location. “We don’t know the place in Heemstede, so it’s difficult to say anything about it, but container homes can be fine.” According to the UNHCR, it is especially important to improve emergency reception and at the same time to focus on structural reception places in order to be able to offer dignified reception in the longer term.
In addition to visitors to the sports park, there are also local residents. One of them is Mrs. Janzen. She has not heard any objections from the neighborhood about placing the containers.
“Maybe there is a few, but I don’t know them. I don’t have any problems with it. I just want those people to be helped. Where else should those people go? Just explain that to me,” said Mrs. Janzen.
“Where else should those people go, explain that to me?”
If problems do arise, they will be taken care of by a location manager, mayor Nieuwenhuis decides. “This person connects the environment with the refugees and answers questions for both the neighborhood and the Ukrainians. But I don’t know whether there are really any questions. Many Heemsteden residents are already helping with open arms. That help is fantastic.”
This is a message from the joint news editors