Hundreds of asylum seekers in the Netherlands reported every week. Every day there is panic because there are too few beds. How did the current asylum crisis arise, and why can’t the problem be solved in the short term?
Read the article That asylum seekers slept outside in Ter Apel is a low point – but it should not surprise anyone
A ‘stable landscape’
The cabinet wants to move towards a “stable landscape for asylum reception” in steps, according to a letter to the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Firstly, there must be a bill before the summer to force municipalities to receive asylum seekers. If municipalities neglect this task, the provinces must take over and the Central Agency for Asylum Seekers (COA) remains responsible.
It is uncertain how effective this bill will be, and whether it can be piloted through the House of Representatives and the Senate this year.
Other new measures will “not produce large-scale results”, the cabinet acknowledges.
One plan is for the cabinet to use buildings and land owned by the government or COA to receive asylum seekers. Normally this only happens if municipalities agree, but that is not necessary. Only: the number of suitable buildings of the government and COA, with the correct permits, is very limited.
Another plan is for the government to issue permits for a building itself, instead of the municipality. But if municipalities or residents object and go to court, it can take a long time – and the permit may be rejected.
Finally, the central government can change local area plans itself to create asylum shelters, as is the case for the construction of wind farms. The following also applies here: this is an “intensive and long-term process with a lead time of at least one and a half years”, the letter to parliament states.
‘Sneaking’ in the crisis
The Netherlands has entered this reception crisis ‘indifference’, says COA director Milo Schoenmaker. After the refugee flow of almost 59,000 asylum applications in 2015, the number of applications fell to more than 19,000 in 2020, according to figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND).
Since then, the number of asylum seekers has risen quite gradually, reaching almost 43,000 in the last 12 months. That is not counting the almost 60,000 war refugees from Ukraine. They do not have to apply for asylum, because they fall under state emergency law, but they do need a bed.
The COA saw the crowds in the current 115 asylum seekers’ centers increase, while municipalities lacked ‘the sense of urgency’ to open new reception locations, according to Schoenmaker. Didn’t the EU have a deal with Turkey to stop refugees there? And during the corona pandemic, the number of asylum seekers temporarily decreased in early 2020, which gave less pressure.
So what happened?
“If fewer refugees come – see the national budget in the past – we will be ready to reduce the budgets for IND and COA,” says board member Theo Weterings on behalf of the Association of Dutch Municipalities. If the number rises again, money must be added for the asylum procedures and reception. Weterings, who is also mayor of Tilburg: “And then the question arises: are there enough municipalities that can and want to participate in the establishment of a new asylum seekers’ center at that moment?”
There are municipalities that do offer small-scale, temporary shelter. But that is relatively expensive for COA, says Schoenmaker, because every location requires security and guidance, for example. The COA would like reception locations for 300 people or more, but smaller locations are now also being looked at, preferably several together.
The staff shortage at the COA and the IND is another problem. The Justice and Security Inspectorate concluded this month that the IND “needs extra people, resources and time”. The cabinet is already allocating EUR 200 million more for the IND and COA on a structural basis, according to the coalition agreement.
Humane system
In 2020, the central government, provinces and municipalities will have already drawn up a plan to reform the reception: the ‘flexibility agenda’. The aim is “a flexible and effective asylum system, which is dignified for the asylum seeker, which can count on support in our neighbourhoods, villages and cities.” Two years later, not much has come of this, the cabinet acknowledges in the letter to parliament.
The idea is to expand to four registration centers in the Netherlands, spread over the four corners of the world, with smaller ‘satellite locations’. For example, status holders with a residence permit and ‘promising’ asylum seekers must have regional reception locations close to their future place of residence.
But Ter Apel (2,000 places) is the only registration center for the time being. The asylum seekers’ center with a smaller ‘registration street’ in Budel (1,500 places) in Brabant will close in 2024 due to nuisance. State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum, VVD) is discussing a second application center. Whether this will happen, and if so where and when, is still unknown.
Hotel owners don’t want to
One way to create more space in asylum seekers’ centers is to allow the more than 13,000 status holders who are now staying there – and who occupy one third of the number of beds. But there are few houses for these status holders, because there is a housing shortage in the Netherlands.
Since the end of last year, status holders have been allowed to be accommodated temporarily in hotels or, for example, holiday homes. Many hotel beds are already reserved for Ukrainians alone, or hotel owners don’t want them with them. Some operators also say they first want permission from the municipality, which is not formally required.
Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing, CDA) wants to accelerate housing construction – also for status holders – is stated in the letter to parliament. Other plans include creating ‘flex homes’ for all kinds of attention groups, or the conversion of (commercial) buildings. These could form regional ‘intermediate houses’ for groups of status holders.
The cabinet is now making agreements with the provinces to boost housing construction, the government also wants to be able to control more here. But this will also take time: the Act on strengthening the direction of public housing will only be ready for consultation this autumn, and then it still has to be passed by parliament.
In the meantime, in the asylum crisis, the cabinet must also try to keep all governments and agencies on board. That ‘stable landscape’ for asylum reception can only be achieved ‘jointly’, concludes the letter to parliament.