Central government real estate shortcut to forced asylum reception

But according to The Hague sources, this is also possible without permission from a municipality. According to insiders, there is already ‘mandatory legislation’ that can be used.

Ter Apel

In this way, unwilling municipalities could still be forced to accommodate asylum seekers, in order to reduce the enormous pressure on the Ter Apel application center and other reception locations in the country. According to those involved, this is an ‘exciting’ decision on which the Council of Ministers has been brooding for several weeks.

Exciting, because municipalities are bypassed in this way. This is sensitive, because support for shelter may quickly erode. In addition, critics wonder why this was not conceived earlier. But the most important question now is what such a construction will yield in extra buildings.

Monuments

The government property portfolio includes prisons, courts, barracks, airports, defense sites, ministries, ports, tax offices, monuments, museums and palaces.

But according to insiders, a recent inventory would show that with the devised construction, hardly any buildings can be used directly for shelter. That uncertainty also makes the cabinet wary of such a drastic decision, those involved know.

The cabinet is now resorting to emergency shelter in sports and event halls, after asylum seekers had to sleep outside on a lawn in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

According to State Secretary Van der Burg (Asylum), the problems in the reception are not over for the time being, although according to those involved, hundreds of extra places appear to be added next week. The cabinet is now working on a bill to enforce it with municipalities, even if it does not concern places in central government real estate.

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