Netherlands deals with real estate & movement dilemma ‘excellent tornado’

A “perfect storm” of rises in asylum demands and also an absence of cost effective real estate is creating travelers and also Dutch nationals to properly contend for areas to stay in the Netherlands.

A solid boost in asylum demands throughout 2022 caused the opening of some emergency situation function centres throughout the nation to aid alleviate this dilemma, however it has actually not assisted to have it.

“There were no beds, so people were staying outside and then the Red Cross stepped in,” Bastiaan van Blokland from the Dutch Red Cross informed Euronews.

“And since then, we have become basically an integral part of the structure of refugees shelter.

“We run sanctuaries currently in sychronisation with the federal government to see to it that there’s constantly a secure and also irreversible quantity of beds for evacuees.”

At these centres, people get three meals per day and weekly pocket money of €12. Some of them have been waiting for more than a year for their asylum request to be assessed.

They can go out during the day and work for a maximum of 12 weeks per year, but many spend their days in the centre’s recreation room.

Syrians are the most common among asylum seekers here and at a national level. Euronews spoke to Yara, who fled the civil war in her home country. She said that the situation is not easy.

“My spouse and also my children remain in Syria, and also I really did not see them for 9 months, which is so hard for me,” Yara said.

“And previously, I need to represent one more year in order to see them. I wish it will not be greater than one year.”

Those who eventually gain refugee status are entitled by law to private accommodation and reunification with their family. 

But the shortage of housing means that many people are kept on the waiting list and stuck at overcrowded reception centres.

Ships once used for luxury cruises are also now hosting hundreds of people in the port of Amsterdam, as they wait for answers to their asylum requests.

Indeed, the Dutch government tried to introduce different protection statuses in order to avoid granting every refugee the immediate right of family reunification. This is what ended up splitting opinions within the coalition which collapsed earlier this month. 

“There’s a housing crisis – simply not enough affordable housing in this country, especially in the larger cities, but basically everywhere,” Jeroen Doomernik, an associate professor of political science at the University of Amsterdam told Euronews.

“This means also that there’s big competition between people who are eligible for social housing, the Dutch natives eligible for affordable social housing – there’s a competition between those needs and those of recognised refugees.”

According to Doomernik, this kind of “perfect storm”, caused by inflation and environmental issues prevents new houses from being built and is also what created the tensions under which the Dutch government fell. 

He size=”180 November 22(* )a real estate dilemma – merely inadequate cost effective real estate in this nation, specifically in the bigger cities, however generally almost everywhere,