The bus with asylum seekers was already on its way to Oss on Tuesday when Mayor Wobine Buijs’ telephone rang. Whether she could quickly provide shelter for eighty refugees for whom there was no room in the Ter Apel reception centre. The request came from Jack Mikkers, the mayor of Bossche and head of the Brabant-North Security Region. In his own words, the mayor of Oss did not hesitate for a moment. And that was the start of a wonderfully fruitful night in Oss.
“We will not let a bus drive through the Netherlands with people who would otherwise have to sleep under the stars”, was Buijs’ first response. That view led to an unprecedented chain reaction on Tuesday evening. Because how do you put together a decent daycare in just a few hours? “If necessary, it will be a gym with beds, then we will arrange that”, the mayor said decisively.
Get to work
Due to an ‘administrative error’, the asylum seekers arrived at the town hall in Oss towards the evening. There they were received and given some food and drink. A stroke of luck: the sun had already set, so fasting for Muslims was not applicable for a while. Meanwhile, officials from the municipal crisis team worked side by side with volunteers across the street to furnish the bottom floor of the old Tax Office office.
There are already 120 Ukrainian refugees living there who rushed over and rolled up their sleeves to clean and install beds. The bed operation was successful with all his might and everyone was on one ear around midnight. According to Buijs, it is unclear how long the reception location will remain open.
Syrian refugees
The former office on the Raadhuislaan was once the place where Syrian refugees are housed in 2015. With a view to new construction on the site, repeated reception would cost too much money. The war in Ukraine changed that view overnight. The building was made available again in its entirety to Ukrainians.
But that plan is now not entirely valid due to the acute lack of space in Ter Apel. Asylum seekers are currently unable to move on from Groningen to one of the 111 asylum seekers’ centers. They are full, partly because about 13,000 status holders are waiting for a home.
tensions
The old ’emergency breaks law’ worked wonders in Oss. Within hours, the bottom floor of the tax office was transformed into a shelter for about eighty Syrians. “Many status holders are waiting for a home. Just like many Dutch people. That creates tensions,” Buiijs realizes. “We are going to see how we can take care of those people here because it is about the shoes.” She assures that there is still enough room in Oss and the surrounding area for refugees from Ukraine.
Does that go well together, all those refugees from all over the world? The mayor of Oss has no doubts about this. “The children were already playing together in the sandbox this Wednesday morning, so that’s nice.”