According to the municipality of Borger-Odoorn, an empty building in the center of Valthermond is suitable for the temporary accommodation of fourteen status holders. The former accommodation of the Brands construction company on Vrijheidslaan is eligible for this.
Due to the large influx of refugees, many asylum seekers’ centers are full and every municipality is being asked to find suitable, temporary reception locations. Status holders, refugees who have successfully completed the asylum procedure and who are allowed to stay in the Netherlands anyway, are now occupying the asylum seekers’ centers because of a lack of housing. This puts the reception of new refugees at risk.
“The purpose of this temporary location is to get the flow going,” says alderman Nynke Houwing. “We have to take our responsibility in this regard in Drenthe. Just like Emmen did with the hotel building at the time. Even though we cannot take in large groups of refugees, we can think creatively about solutions.”
Mayor Jan Seton agrees: “Nationally there are 11,000 status holders in asylum seekers’ centers, that is the bottleneck. It is about tackling that plug of people with a residence status in asylum seekers’ centres.”
No other locations in sight
The municipality of Borger-Odoorn must receive fifteen status holders for the first half of this year. Ten more are added, because the agreed number of last year was not achieved. Normally these new Dutch people are given a place in the municipality one by one. Now fourteen are housed in one location at once.
The Brands building is empty and, according to Houwing, is the best option: “It is easy to make it temporarily habitable and the only place that can serve as shelter in the short term. Coincidentally, it is in Valthermond, but if this building had been in Exloo or Borger we would have opted for that.”
Municipal property, for example two farms on the outskirts of Borger, has to be converted too much. The alderman does not want to make any announcements about the costs that the municipality pays to Brands for the rent of the building.
‘Village will not be flooded’
On Monday, the municipality will talk to residents of Valthermond. At least, with the people who live in the immediate vicinity of the building.
Houwing about this: “We have calculated that there would be questions and we take them seriously. Yet the village will not be overrun by these fourteen people. There are not hundreds of them. Hopefully we can remove some of the unrest on Monday.”
According to the alderman, it is important to reduce any discussion to normal proportions: “It is a temporary solution. Moreover, they are new Dutch citizens, not safelanders who you see causing nuisance on various bus lines. So my appeal is: don’t make it.” bigger than it is.”
Flex housing
At the end of the year, the status holders will have to have a new, permanent place in the municipality. Brands wants to make the building on Vrijheidslaan suitable for housing. “They have to get out anyway,” says Houwing.
“That is a challenge and we are having good discussions about it with housing corporations. Even though they can’t break an iron with their hands.” If it is not possible to find a suitable place for the status holders before 2023, then the municipality has another trump card in the form of flexible housing (temporary housing units).