Implementing the dispersal law takes time, but the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) hopes that more municipalities will get to work quickly.
Board chairman Milo Schoenmaker calls it “great news” that a majority of the Senate has approved the new law. “Our residents and employees are desperately in need of perspective on how we are going to find a solution to get out of the crisis mode that we have been in for far too long. The dispersal law will help with this.”
The law comes into effect on February 1 and must ensure that the reception of asylum seekers is fairly distributed among all municipalities in the country. “Next year will be a transition year on the way to more stability,” says Schoenmaker. “For the time being, we have not yet done away with emergency shelter, but we trust that, with the clarity of the law, regions that do not yet have sufficient asylum shelter will act quickly.”
Structural locations
The COA now has 159 emergency shelter locations and 86 regular ones. In the long term, the dispersal law will provide structural, more high-quality locations, where, according to the COA, asylum seekers can complete the procedure in peace and start their future in the Netherlands or abroad. But also where COA employees can do their work under normal circumstances.
The organization has been preparing for the arrival of the dispersal law for some time. COA will work together with provinces and municipalities. “Before February 1, the State Secretary will announce the provincial reception task and indicative distribution of reception places per municipality,” said the COA.
Next year, COA expects a shortage of 10,000 to 20,000 shelter places. The organization will first focus on extending shelter at locations whose term is expiring, but will also look at which emergency shelter locations and temporary municipal shelters can be converted into regular shelter. Ultimately, new locations are also needed.