Municipalities have ‘major doubts’ about the government’s asylum agreements. “The measures are expected to create chaos with negative effects for all residents of our villages and towns,” the VNG responded to the measures announced on Friday.
The municipal umbrella organization is referring to the asylum plans that were leaked the day before the announcement. Prime Minister Schoof confirmed in a letter to Parliament on Friday that the dispersal law will be urgently jettisoned. ‘There will be a separate bill to immediately repeal the dispersal law, if possible this year.’
Order to accommodate
The announced abolition of that law, less than a year after its entry into force, means that local authorities will no longer be obliged to receive asylum seekers. The mandatory ‘tasks’ for municipalities for the housing of status holders will also disappear.
‘Municipalities now have the task of housing status holders and there is a mechanism to distribute the housing task among municipalities. If the legal instruments are abolished, chaos seems inevitable,” the VNG said. According to the umbrella organization, this applies ‘especially if municipalities are also deprived of the right to determine for themselves whether they want to accommodate status holders with priority’, as the cabinet plans.
‘This places municipalities in an impossible position. But above all, status holders suffer from this: there is no perspective to build a future in the Netherlands, with consequences for their opportunities to learn the language, work and integrate.’
Wandering around
Instead of municipal obligations, the government is focusing on so-called flow locations. ‘To promote flow, austere facilities are being set up for status holders. The realization of transfer locations is strongly promoted, based on the joint responsibility of municipalities and the government.’
According to the VNG, the policy sows the seeds for new problems: ‘We have serious doubts about whether these measures can be implemented; After all, there is a lack of capacity at all implementing organizations in the asylum and criminal justice chain. We are particularly concerned about the consequences for society. Because how does the government prevent people without right of residence from disappearing from view and wandering around?’
COA also critical
Municipalities are receiving support from, among others, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), which also fears the consequences: ‘The risk is that the Netherlands will remain in the reception crisis for even longer and more and more expensive emergency shelter will be needed because residents will have to stay in shelter for even longer. to stay. In addition, it becomes more difficult for newcomers to build a future in the Netherlands.’
Tagged With: asylum seekers, COA, refugees, refugee shelter Filed Under: Governance, Collaboration, Social