Overview
- COA has paused new admissions to the Ter Apel arrival and registration centre because arrivals have exceeded the centre’s roughly 2,000-bed capacity.
- The municipality of Aa en Hunze opened sporthal De Goorns in Gieten as a temporary night shelter with up to 150 beds and the first bus of people arrived late on Thursday.
- Haarlem is temporarily housing about 30 recognised refugees in a COA-funded hotel so they can leave reception centres and free up places for new arrivals.
- The Dutch Red Cross and local officials say people waiting outside Ter Apel face poor conditions, volunteers are under strain, and short-term shelters do not solve welfare risks.
- A national shortage of housing is keeping roughly 19,000 recognised refugees in reception centres, blocking bed turnover and prompting calls for a coordinated, structural response.