Twenty asylum seekers sleep outside again in Ter Apel
The Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk are urgently asking municipalities to arrange additional emergency accommodation.
Follow-up to: COA warns of new humanitarian threshold Friday, 9 October 2026, 13:42
Twenty people wishing to apply for asylum slept outside the registration centre in Ter Apel on the night from Thursday to Friday. According to the Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland, this shows that the shortage of accommodation places has once again reached a humanitarian threshold.
The twenty people slept in the rain on the grass outside the registration centre. The Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk report that the daytime shelter they organise jointly reached its maximum capacity of 150 people several times in recent weeks. As a result, people had to wait outside during the day, and some also had no place to sleep.
The organisations are calling on municipalities to arrange emergency accommodation immediately. Municipalities in the north are currently providing night shelters, but according to the Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk, their capacity is insufficient to deal with the pressure at Ter Apel on a structural basis. They also want people to stop being moved repeatedly between different temporary locations.
The situation is the result of a broader shortage throughout the accommodation chain. Since May, controlled access has been in place at the registration centre: not everyone can enter immediately when no bed is available. The cabinet had already introduced additional measures and pointed to the need for new accommodation places outside Ter Apel.
Under the Spreidingswet, municipalities have a duty to enable accommodation facilities. The distribution of the places required was determined in February for the next two years. The law is intended to distribute accommodation more evenly among provinces and municipalities, but in practice its implementation still results in too few available places.
The Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk say that 107 municipalities are currently doing nothing in the area of accommodation and that 119 municipalities are contributing too little. These are figures from the organisations themselves; no independent nationwide verification of them is available in the sources consulted. It is nevertheless established that nationwide accommodation capacity is insufficient and that municipalities are once again being asked to make temporary locations available quickly.
The new appeal comes several days after the COA described the accommodation situation as already highly critical. A temporary location can ease the pressure, but it does not resolve the structural problems involving onward movement, available beds and housing for recognised refugees. The events at Ter Apel mainly make visible that these problems have immediate consequences for people who are still at the beginning of their asylum procedure.
One story, several perspectives
What is established
- Twenty people slept outside near Ter Apel because no accommodation place was available.
- The Spreidingswet assigns municipalities a duty to enable accommodation.
- The cabinet and municipalities are working with temporary accommodation while structural capacity remains insufficient.
Left
Arguments The primary responsibility lies with the government. People applying for asylum are entitled to a safe place to stay; municipalities must contribute in solidarity, and the national government must fund structural capacity and onward movement.
Values Human dignity, equal treatment and the protection of vulnerable people.
Consequences Failure to act quickly will lead to more people sleeping outside, greater pressure on aid organisations and further damage to trust in government.
Centre
Arguments Both rapid emergency accommodation and a viable long-term plan are needed. Municipalities must fulfil their statutory duty, but the national government must provide funding, predictable forecasts and faster procedures.
Values Legal certainty, administrative feasibility and a fair distribution of burdens.
Consequences A combination of temporary and structural measures prevents one municipality or region from repeatedly having to absorb the emergency.
Right
Arguments The government must first gain control over arrivals, departures and security before requiring municipalities to provide more accommodation. Emergency accommodation must not become a permanent facility, and local capacity must carry significant weight.
Values Limits to government responsibility, public order and local democratic oversight.
Consequences More accommodation without controlling arrivals could increase pressure on housing, municipalities and public support.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The core facts are based on a current press release from the Red Cross and official information about the Spreidingswet and Ter Apel. Organisations’ claims about the number of municipalities are clearly attributed as such.
- confirmed Twenty people slept outside in the rain near Ter Apel on the night from Thursday to Friday. — Reported by the Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland. source
- confirmed The daytime shelter in Ter Apel has a maximum capacity of 150 people. — Mentioned in the Red Cross press release. source
- confirmed Under the Spreidingswet, municipalities have a duty to enable accommodation facilities. — The national government describes the statutory duty and the distribution of accommodation places. source
- confirmed Controlled access has been in place in Ter Apel since May. — Mentioned in the official reporting on measures for Ter Apel. source
- confirmed 107 municipalities are doing nothing and 119 municipalities are doing too little regarding accommodation. — Presented as a claim by the Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk, not as an independently established nationwide figure. source
Editor's note
The fact that twenty people slept outside and the appeal by the Red Cross and VluchtelingenWerk have been confirmed. The numbers of municipalities that, according to both organisations, are doing nothing or too little have not been independently verified.Sources
- Tekort aan opvangplekken opnieuw pijnlijk zichtbaar in Ter Apel — Rode Kruis Nederland
- Spreidingswet: informatie voor overheden — Rijksoverheid
- Extra maatregelen voor veiligheid en opvang in Ter Apel — Rijksoverheid
- Nieuwe humanitaire ondergrens bereikt in de asielopvang — Gemeente.nu
The story so far
- Friday, 9 October 2026, 13:42 COA warns of new humanitarian threshold
- Friday, 9 October 2026, 15:44 Twenty asylum seekers sleep outside again in Ter Apel (this article)
More on this in Dutch media
- NRC — „asielopvang ter apel”
- NU.nl — „asielopvang ter apel”
- De Telegraaf — „asielopvang ter apel”