# Farmsum asylum shelter stays open until end of 2031

> The municipality of Eemsdelta has extended the emergency shelter by five years at the COA's request, while Deventer is keeping its homeless shelter open until March 2028.

Migration · published 2026-10-30 06:12 · https://nlnow.nl/a/farmsum-asylum-shelter-stays-open-until-end-of-2031/

The municipality of Eemsdelta has decided to keep the asylum shelter in Farmsum open through the end of 2031, at the request of the COA, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers. The municipality extended the shelter for a maximum of 150 asylum seekers who have a good chance of a residence permit.

The emergency shelter opened in 2021 for a maximum of six months and was extended several times. At the end of 2023 it was extended by three years; now it has been extended by five.

Mayor Ben Visser says five years is the most the municipality can do. The shelter houses families with children who attend local schools. "The COA has no other shelter places," he said.

## Deventer extends homeless shelter

In Deventer, the municipality has extended the temporary shelter for homeless people on the Hanzeweg until March 2028. It was due to stay open for two years at most. The municipality says it extended the shelter because pressure on the other shelter, on the Polstraat, is high.

New asylum applications in the Netherlands have eased over the past year, CBS figures show. There were 2,100 first applications in September 2026, against 2,700 in September 2025. The monthly total fell to 1,810 in June 2026, the lowest in the period, before rising again.

**First asylum applications are lower than a year ago** (people; source: CBS)

- Sep 2025: 2700
- Oct 2025: 2470
- Nov 2025: 2485
- Dec 2025: 2570
- Jan 2026: 2070
- Feb 2026: 1960
- Mar 2026: 1965
- Apr 2026: 2105
- May 2026: 2145
- Jun 2026: 1810
- Jul 2026: 1920
- Aug 2026: 1845
- Sep 2026: 2100

## Background

- **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.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/