Cost of accommodating asylum seekers expected to be €3bn higher

The cost of looking after asylum seekers in 2023 is expected to be €3 billion higher than originally forecast because of an increase in refugees coupled with an accommodation shortage, NRC reported on Tuesday. Asylum minister Eric van der Burg is trying to steer a law through parliament that would allow him to identify locations to accommodate asylum seekers over the heads of municipalities. Van der Burg has faced resistance from MPs in his own party, the VVD, and the Christian Democrats, who want more limits on the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country. ‘Unnecessary harm’ to children Meanwhile, healthcare and education experts have written to Van der Burg criticising the arrangements for asylum seeker children, who are often moved repeatedly around the country, depriving them of ‘stable, child-friendly and safe accommodation’.