News item | 01-31-2024 | 09:30
The Act on Municipal Tasks to Enable Asylum Reception Facilities (Spreading Act) has been published in the Government Gazette. The law comes into effect on February 1. The aim of this law is to achieve sufficient reception places and a more balanced distribution of asylum reception across provinces and municipalities.
Process and distribution
Before February 1, 2024, it has been determined how many reception places are needed for asylum seekers for the next two years. These shelter places are (indicatively) distributed among the municipalities based on the population and the socio-economic score of a municipality. By adding up the numbers of the municipalities in the province, the provincial reception task is created. An overview of the distribution can be found here: See: https://www.officielekennismakingen.nl/stcrt-2024-3320.html
Municipalities discuss at the provincial control tables (PRTs) how they will jointly fulfill this task. They decide among themselves which municipalities will provide shelter and how many places. Existing shelter places – or that will become available within 12 months – of more than 100 places and longer than 5 years will, if municipalities so wish, count towards the fulfillment of their own provincial task. The King’s Commissioners (CdKs), in their role as a government body, coordinate these discussions.
The CdK will submit a report to the State Secretary for Justice and Security before November 1, 2024. The minister ultimately adopts a distribution decision.
Only if municipalities are unable to jointly complete the entire provincial task, the State Secretary can designate municipalities themselves, and thus oblige them, to receive asylum seekers. After 2 years, the cycle starts again with an estimate of the number of shelter places.
Financial arrangement
Various benefits are available to encourage municipalities to voluntarily offer places. These benefits can be spent freely, so also for a purpose other than the reception of asylum seekers. The amount of the benefit varies and depends on the type of place offered and the number of places offered. See: table below under documents.