Government finds 15,000 places for refugees in empty buildings

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 Some 15,000 Ukrainian nationals and refugees can be put up in government buildings which are currently not being used, housing minister Hugo de Jonge said on Friday after the weekly cabinet meeting. 

Former offices and prisons are among the buildings which can be transformed into accommodation and the cabinet has allocated €75 mn to fund the redevelopment work, the minister said. The beds are in addition to the 50,000 places which local councils have been urged to come up with. 

Junior justice minister Eric van der Burg said on Friday that around 17,000 Ukrainian nationals are known to have come to the Netherlands and that number is likely to increase. ‘Germany and other border countries tell us that people from Ukraine are continuing to arrive,’

 Van der Burg said. The government assumes 100,000 people from Ukraine may find their way to the Netherlands, and will stay for years if the war continues. (DutchNews.nl)