On Wednesday afternoon, August 17, several refugees reported to the public desk of the Municipality of Zuidplas in South Holland. To the great surprise of the municipality, they had been placed by COA in the local Van der Valk hotel since 18 July. It is a ‘temporary solution’. The total of 42 refugees come from various countries.
Newer dungeons are not happy with this state of affairs. They emphasize that they have nothing against the refugees, but that they are concerned about the lack of communication.
“There’s something very sneaky about this,” says Christa. “As if it had to be pushed through. Why was this not simply discussed in advance with residents and the municipality? Perhaps they were afraid there would be protests.”
Her partner Joop is also angry by the news. “Don’t get me wrong: if people are really refugees, I don’t mind. But I do think that this needs to be looked at critically. You can’t just keep taking care of everyone and offer them housing, while the Dutch themselves are really looking for it.”
Messy
Resident Ed thinks the COA is ‘sloppy’. “It is important that there is good communication in these kinds of difficult matters. I don’t have much of a problem with it myself. In the end, they are also people and of course they deserve a roof over their heads.”
Refugees have also been temporarily housed in a sports hall near him. Ed: „Then you cannot exercise for a month. People sometimes worry about that, but I really wonder what is more important: that you can’t exercise for a while or that those people just find a good temporary home. The latter of course.”
Another male resident, who because of the sensitivity of the subject does not want his name in the newspaper, also reacts with pity to the news. “It’s really hard to say this. You should always inform the residents about such matters. Now it doesn’t feel right, when in fact I have nothing against those refugees. They can definitely stay here from me.”
Deputy mayor Jan Willem Schuurman (CU/SGP) previously told local media: “In the reception of refugees, we as a municipality find it important that there is adequate care for them and that there is open and transparent communication to residents. Unfortunately, I find that things have gone wrong on those points. We also had very clear discussions with COA about this today. It should be clear that they are further responsible for the care of these people and for offering an appropriate follow-up to their procedure.”
The COA has since apologized to the municipality and the municipality has taken action to provide for basic needs.