For the second night in a row, at least a hundred asylum seekers have to spend the night on a chair in the application center in Ter Apel. This was reported by the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) on Wednesday evening. They have shelter, but sleep on chairs in the recreation room and the waiting area of the building. Another group of a hundred people will be transferred by bus on Wednesday evening to a location in Zuidbroek in Groningen.
There is room for two thousand people in Ter Apel. In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, about 140 people also had to sleep on a chair, because there was no longer a bed available for them. A spokesperson for the COA announced on Wednesday evening that a solution is still being sought for the hundred asylum seekers who will not have a place to sleep next night, but cannot say whether this will succeed.
The application center in Ter Apel has been full for some time now, as a result of the poor flow of permit holders in asylum seekers’ centers to homes. Asylum seekers in the application center therefore have to stay longer than usual in Ter Apel. On Tuesday, the COA already said it expected that there would be a shortage of beds in Ter Apel more often in the coming nights.
In order to avert the reception crisis, the cabinet wants at least four large reception locations, each with room for a thousand asylum seekers. This became apparent on Wednesday from a letter sent at the beginning of this month from State Secretary Eric van den Burg (Asylum, VVD) to the Security Council, which is in the hands of NOS and RTL Nieuws. For large-scale shelters, the cabinet is considering sports halls, ships and tents, for example.