Churches offer refugees temporary shelter to free up asylum beds

An asylum centre is temporary accommodation for people seeking asylum. In this crisis, its beds are scarce because more people need shelter than the available places can hold. The shortage matters immediately: some asylum seekers have been sleeping outside, with winter approaching.

The pressure has two linked sources. There is an overflow of asylum seekers, while people who have already received residence permits remain in asylum centres as they wait for housing. Those residents still occupy beds, even though they are no longer waiting for an asylum decision. The article describes this as trouble throughout the summer.

Moving permit holders can open those spaces. The Council of Churches is asking churches to host families from asylum centres for three months, giving them time to find peace and learn their surroundings. COA is expected to arrange their next location afterward. This is a temporary response to an urgent shortage.

Actie Onderdak is an initiative launched by the Council of Churches in the Netherlands. It responds to an asylum crisis in which overflow has left some people sleeping outside. The approaching winter makes the shortage more dangerous for people without shelter. The initiative aims to release beds already occupied in asylum centres.

The Council has asked local councils and parishes to help shelter families who currently live in asylum centres. Churches are being asked to make suitable empty buildings available. These include rectories or annexes. Families would move to a new location for three months. The stated aim is to give them time to find peace and become familiar with their surroundings.

The plan was developed with COA, the refugee settlement agency. COA will ensure refugees move to another location when the church stay ends. Asylum minister Bart van den Brink has also endorsed the plan. Its immediate effect should be more available asylum-centre beds.

The plan targets families currently housed in asylum centres who have already been given residence permits. They are not the newly arriving asylum seekers sleeping outside. Instead, they are people entitled to remain in the Netherlands but still waiting for housing. Their continued presence means asylum-centre beds cannot be used by others.

Churches are being asked to host these families in empty rectories or annexes. The intended church stay lasts three months. During that period, families can “find peace and get to know their surroundings,” according to the Council. This provides temporary accommodation outside the asylum-centre system while preserving a place for someone else.

The arrangement is not described as permanent housing. It is a short-term move coordinated with COA, the refugee settlement agency. COA will ensure that refugees can move on to a new location after the three months end. The plan therefore depends on another location becoming available.

Actie Onderdak was launched by the Council of Churches in the Netherlands. Its launch involved 19 member churches and organisations. That is the initiative’s stated size, making it a coordinated effort rather than a single parish’s response to the asylum crisis.

The participating bodies include protestant, catholic and reformed denominations. The Council is using this network to ask local councils and parishes to help with shelter. Churches are being encouraged to inspect empty rectories or annexes and make suitable space available for families currently in asylum centres.

The 19-member network provides the initiative’s organisational base, but the article does not state how many buildings or families will ultimately participate. Its purpose is to create temporary places outside asylum centres. By moving families for three months, the churches hope to release beds for asylum seekers who currently lack accommodation, especially as winter approaches.

People with residence permits can remain in asylum centres while they wait for housing. Although they have already received permission to stay, they still occupy rooms or beds intended for people in the asylum system. This contributes to the shortage described in the article.

The proposed solution is to move families with permits into church buildings temporarily. Churches may provide empty rectories or annexes for three months. If a family leaves an asylum centre, its former bed becomes available. That bed can then be used for an asylum seeker who is arriving or currently lacks shelter. The mechanism is therefore relocation, not the creation of new asylum-centre capacity.

The plan could reduce the immediate pressure, but it depends on churches providing space and COA finding onward locations. The article does not give a total number of beds that might be freed. It presents the move as an urgent temporary measure before winter.

The churches are the providers of temporary space. The Council of Churches has asked its member churches, local councils and parishes to help shelter families from asylum centres. Churches may offer empty rectories or annexes. Their three-month accommodation is meant to create calm while freeing beds in asylum centres.

Local councils and parishes are being asked to support the effort in their communities. The article does not specify a separate operational duty for each. COA, the refugee settlement agency, is central to the transition. It helped coordinate the plan and will ensure refugees move to a new location when their church stay ends.

Asylum minister Bart van den Brink has endorsed the initiative. That endorsement supports the plan, but the article does not describe funding or enforcement powers. The arrangement therefore relies on available church buildings, local cooperation, and COA’s ability to organise the next move after three months.

A residence permit changes a refugee’s status, but it does not immediately provide a home. The article states that people who have received residence permits remain in asylum centres while awaiting housing. They therefore continue using asylum-centre beds after their permit has been granted.

This creates a bottleneck. New asylum seekers need places, yet some beds are occupied by families who are waiting to move into ordinary housing. The Council of Churches wants churches to host those families temporarily. Empty rectories and annexes could provide space while the families settle into a new location.

The article does not explain why ordinary housing is unavailable or how long the wait usually lasts. It does state that COA will ensure refugees can move to another location after three months in a church building. That arrangement could release beds, but it still depends on housing and onward locations becoming available.