The group may become even larger if more people report to Ter Apel on Saturday evening. A spokeswoman earlier in the day called the situation “extremely worrisome.”
In the night from Friday to Saturday about forty people slept outside. According to the COA, they chose this themselves because asylum seekers sometimes prefer it.
Canopies have already been erected during earlier warm days in July to create extra shady spots. Extra bottles of water and ice cream will also be handed out.
The consequences of the halted throughput of asylum seekers have been most intense in the Groningen application center for months. It has been overcrowded for quite some time, so people sometimes have to sleep outside. Asylum seekers’ centers no longer have a place and status holders cannot move on to a home due to, among other things, the overheated housing market.
The number of status holders who have moved faster from an asylum seekers’ center to, for example, a flex home or a converted office building, is far behind the numbers in the agreements made by the cabinet, according to figures requested this week by the ANP from the COA. Only 52 percent of the agreed number has been achieved.