Asylum crisis: local authorities speak out

Furthermore, according to the Flemish Association of Cities and Municipalities the sum of 20 million euro that the Flemish Government has set aside to help local authorities pay for the reception refugees “probably won’t be enough”.

Local authorities across Flanders have been making an extra effort to help accommodate the many thousands of refugees that have made their way here during the past few months. In the coming days they will be told how many (extra) refugees they will be expected to accommodate.

However, the Flemish Government has still not said how much funding it will be providing to compensate for the cost of extra educational, social and social integration provision that will be incurred as a result of the arrival of the refugees.

• Communication is also an issue. In almost half of the local social service council’s Local Reception Initiatives, one in five people is illiterate or has a low level of literacy. Where possible English or French is used to communicate with the newcomers.

• 85% of local social services use interpreters. However, there is a shortage of Arabic interpreters. This means that often either a translation site is used or the services of another asylum seeker are used to translate.

• The influx of asylum-seekers also mean that more Dutch courses will be required in order to help them integrate into our society.

• Municipalities also have difficulty finding suitable accomodation. Anyone that is given asylum-seeker status has two months to local the local social services councils’ Local Reception Initiative. The local social services councils say that this is too short a time to find affordable housing especially for families. By the end of next year it is predicted that Flemish local social services councils will be required to provide shelter to 22,000 more people than is currently the case. The local social services councils say that to prevent the reception centre places being taken up by those that have already been given refugee status, the Flemish Government needs to invest in affordable housing.

As many asylum-seekers have suffered great mental traumas. They will require psycho-social help.

• The Flemish authorities will also be required to invest education in order to help the newcomers learn our language and acquire skills that will enable them to play an active role on the labour market.