Churches asked to house refugee families for three months
The Council of Churches wants congregations to take in refugees with residence permits who are waiting for a home, to free up places in crowded asylum centres.
The Raad van Kerken (Council of Churches) asked local congregations on Tuesday to house refugees on a temporary, small-scale basis. Under the name 'Actie Onderdak' (Action Shelter), it wants churches to give one or more families a place for three months, mainly families waiting for housing.
The families are status holders (statushouders), people granted a residence permit. In its statement the council says there is a large shortage of housing locations for them, so they often cannot move on from asylum centres and keep occupying places needed for new asylum seekers. It hopes the action eases what it calls the 'overcrowded asylum reception'.
The council suggests a church annex, a vacant vicarage (pastorie) or a holiday home.
The council says the initiative comes from the foundation Stichting INLIA and its own refugee working group. It says the Protestantse Kerk in Nederland and the Rooms-Katholieke Kerk have joined, as have its other members.
According to the council, the guidance for churches was drawn up in consultation with the COA, the asylum reception agency, and the ministry. The intention, it says, is that the COA ensures the families can move on to a new place after three months.
More on asylum and migration
Special: Migration in numbers
Follow the story: COA
COA (Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers)
The independent government body that houses and looks after asylum seekers while their applications are processed. It runs reception centres across the country and falls under the minister responsible for asylum and migration.
Raad van Kerken
The Council of Churches (Raad van Kerken) is the Dutch umbrella body in which a range of churches in the Netherlands cooperate on shared social and ecumenical work. It speaks on behalf of its member churches on social issues, and it coordinates joint initiatives such as projects that help refugees and other people in need.
statushouders
Statushouders are people who have applied for asylum in the Netherlands and have been granted a residence permit (verblijfsvergunning asiel), so they are allowed to live and work here. After recognition they usually move out of an asylum centre (asielzoekerscentrum) into their own housing, which is arranged with their municipality. Because finding suitable homes for them is difficult, many status holders stay in asylum centres longer than planned, which limits places for new asylum seekers.