The emergency shelter for 300 asylum seekers at Autotron in Rosmalen is almost ready. On Tuesday, beds and cupboards will be towed and the offices will be furnished. If everything goes according to plan, the first asylum seekers will be able to go on 21 February.
It is not yet known who will live there. Location manager Marloes van der Maas indicates that he has to wait and see who will be forwarded from Budel and Ter Apel. She does say: “The location is very suitable for families with children. There is still room behind one of the tents to build a playground.”
On 1 November, the COA and the province asked the municipality of Den Bosch to temporarily receive three hundred asylum seekers. In 2015 and 2016 there was also a shelter at the Autotron in Rosmalen.
This time too it concerns childcare for a maximum duration of one year. “We maintain good contact with residents, local residents, the police and the municipality to prevent problems such as those in Budel,” says Marloes van der Maas.
Gerben Jonkers from Sprang-Capelle will soon start working in the emergency shelter at the Autotron, as a residential supervisor. “I started working at the shelter in Oisterwijk three months ago and I am really looking forward to working here.”
Gerben walks through the complex together with a large group of COA employees on Tuesday and is explained everything about his new workplace. He explains exactly what he is going to do: “I am a housing counselor and I am going to organize activities here to keep people off the street.”
For Soumia Tahrioui it is her first experience with asylum seekers. “I find it exciting, but I get a lot of satisfaction from contributing to the shelter,” she says. “Of course you also hear negative stories about asylum seekers, but I am always positive about it myself. I think it’s just great that the Netherlands opens its doors so that they can be received here.