Two Somali brothers who arrived in the Netherlands in 2021 are facing eviction from an asylum seekers’ center after refusing an apartment arranged for them by the Dutch authorities.
The court ruled in favor of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), which sought their removal after what it described as repeated refusals to accept suitable accommodation.
According to De Telegraaf, the men, aged 20 and 21, were offered a 55-square-meter flat in Utrecht in mid-February. The apartment included a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and a bedroom, at a subsidized €683 per month.
Though the brothers have already been granted residence permits — a status that typically ends eligibility for shelter and weekly benefits — they rejected the offer. According to a court judgment, they insisted on either two separate flats or a single apartment with multiple bedrooms.
The COA, which is responsible for finding housing for status holders leaving asylum centers, documented several attempts to convince the men to accept the flat. In one case, staff used an interpreter to explain the offer in detail, but the brothers reportedly responded, “We don’t sign, this house is not suitable for us. We don’t want to be together, it’s for one person. We did not request this.”
Their lawyer argued that the men were adults with different lifestyles and needed a larger home. The lawyer also said they should have a home big enough for guests, citing the presence of younger siblings also living in the Netherlands who should be able to stay with them.
The COA cited the pressure it is under, given the social housing shortage, and insisted that, while not perfect, the accommodation was perfectly suitable for the migrants to get on their feet away from living on the taxpayer.
“Because of the housing crisis, they could also have been given a shared home with strangers. This offer was a significant improvement of their living situation in the asylum seekers’ center,” it said, as cited by BN DeStem.
It added that the brothers had been warned of pending legal action multiple times ahead of the hearing, being informed six times what the consequences would be should they continue to reject what the authorities deemed suitable alternative accommodation.
The court sided with the COA, noting that the offered flat met municipal standards and included two rooms, which would have allowed the brothers to sleep separately.
“The fact that the defendants preferred to have two separate houses or a larger house does not alter this,” the judge said. “After all, these are housing requirements, and not placement criteria.”
The apartment has since become occupied.
The court granted the COA permission to evict the brothers from the shelter and ordered the Somali nationals to pay €2,145 in legal costs.
Geert Wilders, leader of the Netherlands’ largest parliamentary party, Party for Freedom (PVV), criticized the brothers’ refusal of the accommodation and called for their deportation from the country.
“Insanity! Somali profiteers refuse offered house because ‘too little space for guests.’ Set an example and immediately expel those ungrateful!” he wrote on X.
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