The municipality of Tynaarlo pulls out all the stops to arrange reception places for asylum seekers and homes for various groups in the short and long term.
Since Sunday, the Bonifatiuskerk in Vries and the Laarkerk in Zuidlaren have received almost fifty asylum seekers from the overcrowded reception center in Ter Apel. The churches are doing this after a call from refugee organization Inlia last weekend. It is basically a matter for the churches; the municipality only has a facilitating task. In Tynaarlo, the municipality arranges waste containers and showers.
A maximum of 35 asylum seekers can stay in the Laarkerk; currently there are 33. “The largest group are Syrians, two people are from Somalia, two from Iran and three people are from Turkey. We were happy that Inlia came up with the call. Ukraine. So it was no problem to go for this. I hope that the government will now arrange the long-term shelter with full force and that we can deal with this problem,” says Karel van der Velden of the board of the Laarkerk . In principle, reception in the churches lasts until 9 September. The temporary shelter in Zoutkamp is expected to be ready by then.
Tynaarlo is already doing a lot in the field of temporary facilities. For example, there is the intermediate facility for status holders in Eelde with seventy reception places. It started in 2015 as an experiment to see if this location could help to make asylum seekers’ centers emptier. At its peak, 86 people were accommodated here. In any case, the interim facility will remain open until the end of this year. “These shelters are still very much needed. After December we will try to find space for these people elsewhere in the municipality,” says Mayor Marcel Thijsen.
There is also an emergency shelter with 153 places in the Bladergroenschool in Paterswolde. That location will remain open for another year to a year and a half. And after that? Thijsen about this: “We will ensure that after that time there is permanent shelter for those asylum seekers in our municipality. We are indeed already doing a lot, but it was still not enough. People still had to sleep outside in Ter Apel. So churches is needed. I think this is how a church should be: love. I’m incredibly happy that the churches are doing this.”
It makes Thijsen angry that the reception in the Netherlands is so poorly arranged. “We cannot let people in this country sleep outside without any concern. I am very sad that the secular government has let this happen. It also touches me very deeply. It is the total bankruptcy of the policy. The influx is lower than in 2015 and then we have this. It’s something to be ashamed of. I’m ashamed too.”
Thijsen says that the aim of the Board is to contribute in the short, medium and long term. For example, Tynaarlo wants to realize emergency housing on the site of the Prince Bernardhoeve for eighty to one hundred people for five years from April 2023. “It concerns homes for Ukrainians, for people who originally come from Tynaarlo, but also for status holders and asylum seekers,” says Thijsen.
The current zoning plan does not provide for the placement of emergency housing on the Prins Bernardhoeve site, but because the shelter is temporary, the procedures can be completed more quickly. The city council has yet to make a decision on the realization of the emergency housing.