# Rotterdam offers 2,465 reception places on land

> Alderman Joan Nunnely offers 2,465 reception places on land to comply with the distribution law, most of them for recognised refugees waiting for a home.

Migration · published 2026-10-30 06:21 · https://nlnow.nl/a/rotterdam-wants-to-end-asylum-reception-on-ships-like-the-silja/

Rotterdam's city board wants to stop housing asylum seekers and refugees granted a residence permit on ships such as the Silja. In a letter to the city council, alderman Joan Nunnely (D66) offers 2,465 reception places to comply with the Spreidingswet, the distribution law.

The Silja houses status holders (statushouders), recognised asylum seekers. The places must be available for a year and a half, from July next year until the end of 2028. According to Nunnely's letter, the leases on the Silja and the other ships expire at the end of January 2028.

**Nunnely's letter proposes 1,845 of the places for status holders** (places; source: Rotterdam alderman Joan Nunnely, letter to the city council)

- Status holders: 1845
- Asylum seekers in procedure: 461
- Unaccompanied minors: 157

The city does not plan to take in 2,465 asylum seekers. It wants roughly the same 80-20 ratio of status holders to asylum applicants as in recent years. Nunnely also wants to take in more unaccompanied minors in the coming years.

Nunnely hopes the national government and the COA, the asylum seekers' reception agency, will agree and again grant Rotterdam an exception to the distribution law, as in recent years.

## Background

- **Spreidingswet**: The law that spreads the reception of asylum seekers across Dutch municipalities. Each province and municipality is asked to provide a share of the places; a municipality that does not can be placed under supervision and, in the end, instructed by the minister.
- **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.

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