In the municipality of Maashorst there will be an asylum reception and temporary houses in three places. That must give space to 1000 people. These are refugees, status holders, emergency seekers and starters. The city council decided that on Thursday evening.
The municipality of Maashorst wants to put down at three locations, spread over different cores, shelters and temporary homes. In Uden, on the Boekelse Dijk, there will be an asylum seekers center and a place for temporary homes. Temporary homes will be built in Zeeland and Schaijk. With this plan, the municipality not only wants to take care of asylum seekers, but also build extra houses for its own residents.
The plan was already discussed during a committee meeting, in which a fierce debate arose. That debate continued during the council meeting. The coalition parties for the villages/Maashorst Vooruit, CDA and Jong Maashorst believe that the municipality has a moral and legal duty to compensate for refugees.
That emphasized party leader Bas Keijzer from before the villages/Maashorst Vooruit during the council meeting: “Refugees are people like you and I who have forced to leave their country. We want to offer a human shelter and at the same time keep an eye for our own residents who are urgently seeking living space.”
At present, 300 asylum seekers are being taken care of in Van der Valk-Hotel. When the hotel closes, these asylum seekers move to a new place at the sports park on the Boekelse Dijk. “The shelter at Van der Valk has shown that we can do it,” says Keijzer. “There has hardly been any inconvenience and we have learned how we can better organize the process with more participation of local residents.”
Smaller -scale care ensures more support
Opposite the coalition is mainly VVD, SP and some other opposition parties critical of the size of the location with 500 people. VVD councilor Karin Francken: “We have not gained an insight into why this location was chosen. This scale does not fit the environment and does not meet the wish for small-scale care.”
SP’er Ton Segers also wants more spread: “Smaller shelter ensures more support.” Emiel Jozephs from Jong Maashorst does not like more spread: “Without the expertise of the COA we cannot organize the shelter properly. The support falls away among 300 residents per location, so we don’t want smaller.”
More houses for their own residents
The proposal of the Mayor and Aldermen’s proposal was further expanded during the meeting with wishes and reservations. A total of 31 amendments were submitted. The public gallery was full, especially with opponents. They regularly made themselves heard during the meeting, but went home during the mood over all the amendments with the feeling that they had nothing to say and that the plans just continue.
Nevertheless, the council wants some adjustments. For example, there must be more houses in the plan for their own residents. There must be a plan so that, if the temporary houses disappear after 5 or 10 years, there will be living space for the people involved.
Good wifi
In addition, the site on the Boekelse Dijk, after the daycare period is over, must be given a permanent destination, for example for the expansion of the sports park. The council members also want local residents to be involved in the plans. Furthermore, the Council wants as many families as possible to be collected and as few single men as possible. In addition, the city council wants good WiFi available at the reception places.