More municipalities scrapping asylum center plans over resistance from locals
More and more municipalities are postponing or scrapping plans for an asylum seekers’ shelter due to resistance from locals. At least 20 municipalities have delayed or withdrawn plans for already announced asylum shelters in recent months, De Telegraaf reports.
The Asylum Distribution Act obliges municipalities to create shelters for a total of 96,000 asylum seekers by July 1. The Schoof I Cabinet has promised to scrap this law, but that hasn’t happened yet and Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber is enforcing the law for now. What will happen if the municipalities fail to meet their deadline is unclear. The law states that the government will then create shelters in the municipalities, but this Cabinet is not in favor of forced shelters.
In recent months, municipalities have worked on opening shelters, but many did not take account of resistance from locals. At least 20 municipalities from Heerenveen to Zwolle and from Oldebroek to Pijnacker have had to scrap or postpone plans for already announced shelters, according to the newspaper.
In a few cases, the Central Agency for the Reception of Refugees (COA) rejected a location because it was unsuitable, in others the province raised problems. In several cases, municipal councils rejected the plans after protests by locals.
The Utrecht municipality of Rhenen, for example, scrapped plans to open an asylum center in a wooded area near Elst with room for 200 people due to protests by locals.
“We were completely taken by surprise. There was no consultation. We suddenly received a letter with a detailed plan,” Elst resident Jan Scheffer told the newspaper. "A bad plan, moreover: two hundred people in a remote location, without social control. That's asking for trouble. No homes have been built here for years... and an asylum seekers' center can be built very quickly? Well, then you react angrily."
Scheffer and dozens of other village residents collected over 2,800 signatures against the plans. “About 80 percent of the adults in Elst. Quite a success,” he said. The entire municipal council of Rhenen decided to withdraw the proposal.
Deurne also scrapped plans for an asylum shelter last week after strong opposition from locals. An entrepreneur who had made his land available for the shelter suddenly withdrew. The municipality told the Telegraaf that the man and his family were pressured by locals.
For critical locals, these are successes. But for the COA, they are major setbacks. The COA has been struggling with overcrowded asylum shelters for years, hence the need for the Asylum Distribution Act. It had to accommodate over 10,000 asylum seekers in expensive hotels at the beginning of this year because there was simply no shelter space available, the COA told the newspaper.
