Amsterdam harbour dist. readied for 500 refugee families

On Thursday the municipality of Amsterdam and the Central Body for Asylum Seekers (COA) signed an agreement on sheltering 500 asylum seekers in a new neighbourhood north of Spaarndammerbuurt. The new neighbourhood will be called Houthavens, the Parool reports. The municipality and the COA last year already agreed that asylum seekers will be sheltered in newly built homes on Haparandaweg in West - this deal has now been finalised. The homes have not been built yet, but are expected to be ready by 2018. This will be the first official asylum centre in Amsterdam since the shelter on Wiltzanghlaan in Osdorp was closed a few years back. "I am very happy with this location", Gerard Bakker, management director at COA, told Parool. "It is close to the centre, that is good for integration." The city council does not expect any protest from residents as all residents were informed that an asylum centre would be built there when they bought a home.