News item | 11-07-2025 | 15:00
The cabinet has taken a first step today to further illuminate the pressure on the asylum shelter. With a coherent package of measures, the government encourages new forms of living, which also releases houses for status holders. The starting point here is the creation of equal opportunities for all home seekers and promoting the self -reliance of status holders. In addition to this coherent package, the government has worked on various intake -restricting measures and an amendment to the 2014 Housing Act, which forbidden to give priority only on the basis of the residence status. In a letter to the two chambers, Minister Keijzer (AENM and VRO, Asylum and Housing) and State Secretary Nobel (SZW, Participation and Integration) explain the various measures.
Minister Keijzer: “The aim is to normalize the position of status holders. That is why the cabinet is focusing that status holders have to look for a suitable home in the same way as other Dutch people. Every home seeker in the Netherlands must have a view of their own place. The proposal contributes to resolving the housing shortage and the shortage of shelters for asylum seekers.”
State Secretary Nobel: “We want status holders to learn the language as quickly as possible, to work and work on their integration into Dutch society, whereby they also endorse the norms and values of our open and free society. The cabinet continues to work on it. It is of great importance that status holders integrate as quickly as possible.”
Temporary and shared housing
A quarter of the COA reception capacity is currently used for the care of people who are allowed to stay in the Netherlands (status holders). That puts the capacity of the COA under great pressure. To resolve this, the government focuses on extra housing options that other home seekers can use other home seekers in addition to status holders. This includes rooms with shared facilities. With this, the government wants to ensure equal opportunities for all home seekers. Building for several target groups must also increase support in society, so that homes can be realized in more locations.
Sufficiently stable and affordable care
73,500 people who are entitled to the Netherlands are staying in the Netherlands COA assylum. Of that group, 36,750 people stay at regular reception locations. Around 30,000 are in emergency shelter. And 6,800 people stay with friends or family, or stay in a municipal care.
For almost all places that have since been realized, multi -year agreements apply to municipalities. These reception places must be flexible: they must be canceled or be able to be converted into housing for other groups such as (municipal) emergency seekers and status holders. More places will be available for those groups if the number of asylum seekers is decreasing and vice versa. In this way, expensive emergency shelter can be reduced and the financial risks remain limited.
Target group Flexible scheme
The cabinet is exploring a target group of flexible arrangements to create places to which status holders can flow, taking into account the prohibition of priority in the social rental sector. For example, it is jointly investigated how the good examples of housing parts for single and only ranging status holders can be scaled up. Work is also being done to simplify schemes to realize flexible and affordable reception places. Municipalities must be able to realize long -term care, where (depending on the need) different target groups can go. For example, this can be Ukrainian displaced persons and at another time local emergency seekers. The deployment of the government is to realize more living space and at the same time reduce the long -term use of expensive cruise ships or hotel rooms.
Language, integration and work
Moreover, the government wants status holders to learn Dutch faster and start working earlier in order to integrate better. At the same time, there is the intention to cancel the housing task for status holders. This has considerable consequences for the functioning of the current integration system. That is why the government is investigating how and in what period these consequences can be overcome, so that the integration can continue to function properly. It is also examined how language education can be more flexible, for example online, and how reception locations can better facilitate this with study rooms and learning resources.
These measures will be further elaborated in the coming six months, in consultation with provinces, municipalities, housing associations and the COA.