Netherlands looking for 4,000 additional asylum shelter spots amid rising influx

Outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) stated on Friday after the weekly Council of Ministers that he needs 4,000 additional shelter places by January 1 to manage the influx of asylum seekers to the Netherlands. To achieve this goal, he appealed to all King’s commissioners, the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), the Safety Council, and the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA).

The minister is urgently searching for extra shelter locations as the situation at the asylum seeker and registration center in Ter Apel in the province of Groningen, has become "unsafe and unsustainable," according to the Inspection of Justice and Safety earlier this week. This is partly due to the fact that the maximum capacity of 2,000 asylum seekers is being significantly exceeded.

When asked, Van der Burg acknowledged that, unlike other years, a relatively large number of asylum seekers are coming to the Netherlands in the fall. "Normally, we would expect a lower influx at this time, but we are not seeing that," the minister said.

He suggested that it might be the case that refugees arrived earlier in Italy and are only now reaching here. "It takes a while to get from the south to the Netherlands," stated the State Secretary, who described the influx to Italy as "extremely high." He is uncertain whether higher influx figures in the Netherlands during winter will become the norm, adding, "You can't draw any structural conclusions from that yet."

Regarding the 4,000 shelter places urgently needed, Van der Burg said: "There is only one solution. And that is that we find those places somehow." He emphasized that creating more shelter places is necessary, reiterating that another solution is for so-called status holders to move into a house in a municipality. This would free up space in asylum-seeker centers or emergency locations.