In the first half of this year, Brabant found houses for 1,825 status holders. This means that the province almost meets the assignment: it should have been there in 1923. This is evident from figures from the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). Municipalities do expect it to become a lot more difficult in the second half of this year to meet the target.
Asylum seekers become status holders as soon as they receive a residence permit. The national government determines every six months how many permit holders must give municipalities a place to live. The distribution across municipalities depends on how many people live in a municipality. Larger municipalities must offer more permit holders housing than smaller municipalities.
fire letter
It is striking that housing status holders in Brabant is going so well. At the end of 2021, the King’s Commissioner Ina Adema sent a fire letter to municipalities with the urgent request to make more homes available. At that time, Brabant was still struggling with a significant backlog of 1,700 status holders. Municipalities set to work energetically and with results.
Nearly all municipalities cleared their backlogs in the first half of this year. However, there is already a new target for the second half of 2022.
On the map below you can see how many status holders in your municipality are still waiting for a home.
Tilburg
The municipality of Tilburg has been doing remarkably well for a number of years. In June, the municipality was ahead of the so-called target. According to a spokesperson, this is because good agreements have been made with the housing associations. They reserve a number of homes each year especially for status holders.
In addition, Tilburg has many single and double apartments at its disposal and the municipality has an exceptionally large number of social rental homes. The municipality has also reserved 200 places as intermediate facilities.
A temporary place to make it easier to move on from asylum seekers’ centers. Tilburg is going strong again in the second half of this year. A place has already been found for 76 status holders on 1 August, says the spokesperson.
Breda
The municipality of Breda has difficulty finding suitable homes. According to a spokesperson, the backlogs that the municipality still has must be made up before April 2023.
The biggest problem in Breda is the general housing shortage. “Last month, for example, 2000 people showed an interest in 1 home and the homes we did have did not match people on the waiting list.”
Den Bosch
Housing is doing very well in Den Bosch. This is partly because the municipality here already takes into account ‘followers’, family members of the status holder. That group that comes later is therefore easy to place, without requiring additional housing.
A small-scale shelter for minor status holders has also been realized in Den Bosch. “We have thus succeeded in achieving a head start on the target with relatively few homes and we are proud of that,” says the municipality.
Eindhoven
In the first half of this year, Eindhoven met the target nicely. However, there are cautious concerns about the second half.
“In Eindhoven, just like in other parts of the Netherlands, there is an enormous shortage on the housing market. That pressure is increasing, partly due to the refugees from Ukraine and the extra reception of refugees from Ter Apel.” In Eindhoven you have to wait the longest for social housing: 8.6 years in the city and 7.8 years in the region.
Bernheze
A bit of an odd one out, but well worth kudos. Bernheze and two other Brabant municipalities (Asten and Baarle-Nassau) have already fully complied with the target until the end of this year.
According to the municipality, this is mainly because they look very carefully at what the status holder needs now, but also later. For example, the municipality made its own building available to accommodate a large family, when no comparable home turned out to be available.
Bernheze admits that the pressure on the housing market is simply less. In Bernheze it takes an average of six months before you have found a suitable rental home. In Den Bosch, the waiting time quickly increases to three years. In Breda and Eindhoven you have to wait even longer.