Ukrainians are struggling to find shelter in the Netherlands, according to the Red Cross.
Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands are struggling to find shelter, according to the Red Cross. Last month alone, 435 Ukrainian refugees sought help after being unable to secure a place to stay, with reports of more than 75 people spending nights outdoors, including a family with a one-year-old child.
Susan Sigar from the Red Cross described the situation as critical, noting that the housing shortage has been ongoing for over a year. The most vulnerable groups include unaccompanied children, individuals suffering from war trauma, mothers with their children, and those left without safe accommodation.
Under the EU's temporary protection directive, the Netherlands is required to provide housing, healthcare, and education for Ukrainian refugees. However, the official shelter places—around 97,000 according to the Dutch Association of Municipalities (VNG)—are already full. The association also noted that a lack of multi-year funding makes organizing more places nearly impossible, and emergency shelters are regularly forced to turn away new arrivals.
The Red Cross operates a temporary site in Westerfort designed for a three-day stay, but many refugees are staying there for weeks due to a lack of alternatives. Sigar confirmed that arranging shelter is the government's responsibility, calling for an expansion of capacity and the establishment of a national registration system to track around 120,000 Ukrainians present in the country.
The interim state secretary for asylum and migration, Mona Kaiser, promised to present a plan by mid-September to prioritize shelter for refugees, but the crisis still leaves many in unstable situations.