Zoetermeer housing market
What is the effect of the emergency shelter on housing seekers in Zoetermeer?
The municipality of Zoetermeer, like other municipalities, must ensure that status holders receive suitable housing. A status holder is a refugee who has been granted residence status. The number of status holders a municipality has to house is determined by the government on the basis of the municipality's population. The emergency shelter does not change the number of status holders who must be provided with suitable housing in Zoetermeer. Municipality of Zoetermeer must offer housing to a small proportion of the people it receives. A large proportion of the status holders in the emergency shelter will live elsewhere in the region or move to another shelter.
Will the residents of the emergency shelter soon get housing in Zoetermeer?
Like other municipalities in the Netherlands, Zoetermeer has a duty from the central government to house a number of status holders (refugees with a residence permit) each year. This number will not change because of this emergency shelter.
Why won't there be housing in the prison?
The central government owns the prison. The central government has not yet made a decision on the longer-term use of the prison. The emergency shelter is a temporary filling of the space.
Is there a longer waiting list for social housing in Zoetermeer because of the emergency shelter?
No, the waiting list is not getting longer. Like other municipalities, the municipality of Zoetermeer must ensure that status holders are provided with suitable housing. How many people this is, the government determines based on the number of inhabitants of a municipality. The emergency shelter does not change the number of status holders who must be provided with suitable housing in Zoetermeer. Some status holders from the emergency shelter may get suitable housing in Zoetermeer. The rest will go to other municipalities.
What is the mission statement?
The term "tasking" comes up a lot when it comes to the reception and housing of statusholders (asylum seekers who have been recognized as refugees and granted residence permits). But what is meant by it? Status holders are entitled to housing. Every municipality is obliged to provide housing for a number of status holders. This is stipulated in the Housing Act 2014, Article 28.
The task order is about the number of status holders a municipality must take in. This number is set nationally for each calendar half-year. The amount of the task setting per municipality is linked to the number of inhabitants of the municipality (Housing Act 2014, Article 29).
Each status holder paired with the municipality counts toward the task order. If a family is paired with two small children, they count four people toward the task order.
What is meant by housing?
If a status holder is matched with a municipality, the municipality must ensure that the person is provided with suitable housing. This can be a house, an apartment or independent living space in a larger complex. What is appropriate depends by a status holder's situation. For example, if someone is disabled, the accessibility of the home must be taken into account when looking for housing.
Can a status holder refuse housing?
Yes you may, but it does affect the status holder. The municipality is required by law to make a suitable housing offer once. If this is refused, the status holder forfeits his right to housing and also his place in the asylum seekers' center. This has not yet occurred in Zoetermeer.
How is suitable housing found?
In Zoetermeer, the municipality is working with the housing corporations Vidomes, Stedelink (formerly Vestia) and De Goede Woning to provide suitable housing. The housing corporations have a list of the status holders who are linked to Zoetermeer. If a suitable home becomes available, this is passed on to the municipality. Of course, not every available house is for status holders because there are also other house seekers who want to rent a social rental house.