A shelter for 100 asylum seekers on Kanaaldijk-South in Eindhoven is not yet ready. This is due to staff shortages. Therefore, it may be some time before the first refugees can be welcomed.
At the end of April, the municipality announced that the city will receive 100 asylum seekers from Ter Apel. They would be housed in the residential units on the Kanaaldijk. Previously, homeless people stayed there. The intention was that the first asylum seekers would arrive on 1 June, but the site is still deserted.
Shortages
‘It has not been easy in recent weeks to find professionals to prepare the location. The shortage of staff is currently a problem in all kinds of sectors’, write the mayor and aldermen.
For example, there are too few professionals to set up the location so that refugees can stay there. Also, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) does not have enough staff in house who can guide the refugees during the relocation. “We are talking about traumatised people after all,” says a spokesperson for the municipality.
Consultation
It’s not known yet when the accommodation will be ready. The municipality is in consultation with the COA and other reception organisations in the city. Hopefully, they can find a solution in the short term. In the meantime, COA is looking at which people can be placed in Eindhoven. The aim is to achieve a good distribution of residents according to age, gender and origin.
Protest
Entrepreneurs at the Eindhoven business park De Kade previously stated that they were not happy with the shelter. They were surprised by the decision. They don’t feel like the municipality took them seriously.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Shanthi Ramani
