Volunteers Call on Politicians to Take Action Following the Closure of Emergency Shelters
The emergency shelter for refugees behind the fire station in Kaatsheuvel will close its doors permanently on August 1. Flexible housing units will soon be built on the site of the temporary shelter. For the volunteers who have been involved with the shelter on a daily basis over the past year, this is not the end of the story, but rather a time to look ahead.
In a letter to the Loon op Zand City Council, they call for efforts to establish a new, permanent shelter in the village. Their message is clear: the municipality must provide long-term housing for refugees, not just temporary housing as has been the case recently.
Specific Request to Politicians
The volunteers are asking all parties running in next year’s municipal elections to include in their campaign platforms a commitment that Loon op Zand will provide shelter for at least 150 refugees. This number was not chosen at random, as the Distribution Act requires the municipality to provide housing for this number of people. In addition, they are explicitly asking that residents be fully involved in future plans and that they be provided with clear and timely information.
The volunteers, together with local residents and city employees, want not only to bring the current shelter period to a successful close, but also to lay the groundwork for a new beginning. In their letter, they explicitly offer their assistance to the city council: “We want to help, advise, and support you.”
From Temporary to Long-Term
While the current shelter in Kaatsheuvel was intended as a temporary solution, the plan for the future is to establish a long-term shelter, with a time horizon of about ten years. Initially, the plan was to organize this shelter in collaboration with the neighboring municipality of Dongen, but Dongen decided to withdraw from the project. This means that Loon op Zand is now on its own in carrying out this task.
There is no concrete plan for a new location yet. It is unclear whether the volunteers themselves have any ideas about a suitable location; they do not want to discuss this in detail at this time and would rather wait for the city council’s response first.
This volunteer-led initiative demonstrates just how important engaged residents can be in shaping refugee services within a municipality. While politicians sometimes take a wait-and-see approach, these volunteers take the initiative themselves to get the conversation started.
