Purmerend will use forty temporary homes to accommodate refugees. The Ukrainians can stay there for four to eight months. That is remarkable, because three weeks ago Alderman Kroese indicated that no Ukrainians would be expected to enter the homes. The houses on the Verzetslaan were built for Purmerend residents who need a house immediately. The municipality has announced that emergency seekers can be placed again after this period.
Three weeks ago, alderman Kroese seemed unlikely that refugees would come into the temporary homes. You can hear that in the clip above. More than 100 homes have been placed on the Verzetslaan and they should be filled with emergency seekers these weeks. When NH Nieuws asked the aldermen at the time whether it could become a reception center for Ukrainian refugees, he indicated that he did not expect this.
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Alderman Thijs Kroese sees in Purmerend ‘an enormous willingness to think along and help.’ According to him, the war now requires a different decision and he wants to offer the refugees a quiet place. The region has to receive 2,000 Ukrainian refugees from the government and the alderman currently sees the temporary homes as a good option for this. “The houses are already there,” he says.
Solution for housing shortage
Reception of refugees is a sensitive topic in the region. The council chamber of Purmerend was built 6,5 years ago stormed during a refugee debate. Afterwards, Mayor Bijl promised that housing would be built more quickly, because the activists were angry about the housing shortage. Building temporary emergency housing for emergency seekers was seen as one of the solutions.