Last July, Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet traveled to Helmond to protest against the arrival of a shelter for fifty unaccompanied minor asylum seekers. Three people were arrested. On Tuesday evening, the council committee discussed the location for the asylum seekers’ center. Reason for the municipality to take extra security measures with security guards and some police on the street. But it remained quiet with 16 spectators in the public gallery.
Helmond wants to receive a hundred unaccompanied minor asylum seekers. That decision has already been made by the municipal council in 2023. Fifty are already being accommodated in a location on Torenstraat. But where should that other location be located and what will it look like? Helmond has not yet decided on this. A site on Smalstraat is being considered, a plot not far from the station, between the railway and a busy two-lane road. The intention is for the shelter to remain there for ten years.
Three respondents did not like the arrival of the shelter. One of the speakers mentioned the incident in the Burgemeester Geukerspark. Last year, a homeless woman was raped by four underage asylum seekers, and a fifth was found guilty of sexual assault. The speaker expressed her fear of the arrival of ‘only boys, who are traumatized and without a father figure’. “First there are reassuring words, then there is nuisance and then there are sexual offenses.”
“This summer it was a total hit.”
Another commenter lives nearby the shelter on Torenstraat in Helmond. This local resident says he experiences a lot of inconvenience. “This summer it was a total hit.” According to the local resident, she has seen young people ‘breaking things’ a lot. “There is no control there. People tell me to close the back door, but the sparrows are falling from the roof and I have to close the door?”
According to the political party Helder Helmond, there were 229 reports about the shelter in Torenstraat in 2024. “It does not mean that everything goes wrong there,” says Martijn Rieter of the party. “But we shouldn’t pretend that nothing is there either. The truth lies somewhere in between.” According to D66, the size of incidents is not too bad. “A report can also be about smoking or arriving late,” says Jochem van den Boogaard. According to Mayor Sjoerd Potters, there has been no major unrest or incidents at the shelter.
“The area is already heavily burdened by traffic.”
A third commenter hopes that the council members will use their ‘common sense’ beyond all the complicated technical documents about the choice of location. “Grab a garden chair and sit on the designated plot. And then put yourself in the shoes of a vulnerable young person.” The commenter speaks of a cold letter from the municipality about the arrival of the location. The mayor has apologized for this.
Many parties in the municipal council would like to provide shelter for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers. But they are concerned about the crowds at the new location, which will be located between the railway and a busy road. Some parties doubt whether the place is a suitable residential location. “The area is already heavily burdened by traffic,” says Matijs Sneijders of the VVD. “It is a dark, stony corner,” says Patty Spoek of FVD.
The SP, PvdA and D66 would like a location on the Smalstraat. “We are not going to put the young people in a tent. We can simply make this location suitable as a residential location,” says Lonneke Maraczi of the SP. A majority in the committee appears to agree with a location on Smalstraat. The Helmond city council will continue discussions in two weeks.