Living in the Akert

What countries do the students and coassistants come from?

Students and residents come from all over the world.

How do students and residents live in the building? For example, do they each have a room, do they cook communally?

Each student and resident has their own room. Most rooms have a private bathroom and pantry. The students and coassistants cook for themselves and eat in the common living rooms with kitchen. They are not allowed to cook in their rooms.

Is there supervision of the students?

The rooms for the students are rented out by the property management company VPS. There are clear house rules for all room occupants for such things as the placement of bikes and scooters, garbage and parties. There is a janitor at the location three times a week and head residents have been appointed. They ensure compliance with the house rules.

Can students and coassistants go to minor aliens and vice versa?

Not in the building, which is split into two separate parts by placing a wall internally. So the two groups live separately from each other. Each group also has its own entrance to the building. At the entrance to the minors' residential location, there is supervision by the security organization Trigion.

What is meant by unaccompanied foreign minors (AMV)?

These are young people under 18 who come to the Netherlands alone or with other young people but without their parents and apply for asylum here.

What is the composition of the group of minor asylum seekers who come to Akert?

The group consists of boys and girls ages 15, 16 and 17. Proportionally, the group will have more boys than girls. There is a reason for this. More boys arrive at the application center Ter Apel. This is because there is a difficult and dangerous journey to be made. You therefore see mostly boys fleeing war and violence in their countries. 

Do these young people stay at location Akert for three years?

The young people are in the process of applying for asylum. These take 9 to 12 months, sometimes even longer. A child moves to another location after receiving a ruling on the asylum application. Regardless of whether this result is negative or positive. A child moves to a COA adult location when he or she turns 18.

Do all youth at the site have a guardian?

Each child has its own guardian through the Nidos Foundation because they are all minors. This, as an independent (family) guardianship institution, carries out the guardianship task, by law, for unaccompanied minor aliens. The guardian is regularly present on site. In addition, each child has a mentor at the location. Thus, at the location there is supervision and guidance for each child.

How do the minor asylum seekers live in their part of the property?

The residential facility for the minor refugees is the responsibility of COA. At its expense, COA has provided safe and appropriate adaptation and furnishing of this part of the building. There are 54 sleeping places; divided between the first floor and the second floor. The girls sleep on the first floor. The boys sleep on the 1st floor. 3 youths stay in one room. On both floors are common living rooms with a kitchen. There is also a teaching kitchen on the first floor. The young people cook their own meals. On the first floor is the reception and are also the offices of COA, Nidos and security.

How is health care provided for the minor asylum seekers?

COA is responsible for health care. Like everyone else, asylum seekers can go to the family doctor or the hospital. COA employees inform the young asylum seekers about Dutch health care and - if necessary - accompany them to Health.

Day care

What does the day care of minor foreign nationals look like?

At the location, COA provides a day and evening program under the direction of qualified residential counselors. This consists of, for example, traffic lessons, bicycle training and swimming lessons. There are also sports and recreational activities.

How is education arranged?

The minor asylum seekers are all subject to compulsory education. From January 2024, the youngsters received education in Ontmoetingscentrum 't Kruispunt at Slachthuisstraat 22 in Geldrop. They were taught there by teachers from the Jan van Brabant college. After the summer vacations of 2024, the youth will go to school in Helmond. There they will receive full education for newcomers. It is nice that the young people can go to Helmond so they can meet more young people there. Through education, the young people experience a normal life again and gain rhythm and a sense of purpose in life.

Livability and safety

How is supervision at the residential site arranged?

COA's residential site has a site manager. COA also guarantees 24/7 supervision. There is constant security and certified in-house emergency workers at the residential location. Each child has a COA mentor as well as a guardian from Nidos. So there is constant supervision of this vulnerable group.

How are nuisances prevented at the residential site?

COA informs the young people about the house rules of the housing location. COA also provides a piece of integration. The young people receive explanations about manners, values and norms and the rules of conduct and traffic in the Netherlands.

Are young people allowed off the grounds?

Yes, like all young people, they are allowed to go outside. However, the rule is that they must physically report to the reception location twice a day. COA organizes activities at the location so that young people are motivated to stay at the location.

How is public order and security managed?

The liveability, manageability and safety at the reception location are the responsibility of COA. COA has hired the private security organization Trigion for this purpose. There is 24/7 supervision of safety and liveability at the location. During the night, supervision is also present. They then work a so-called waking shift.

In case of criminal offenses or public disturbances, the police are called in. They include the location and its surroundings in their surveillance. There are also regular consultations between COA, the district police officer and the municipality to discuss signals from residents and take measures if necessary. To this end, the district police officer, area director and BOA maintain close contact with the residents who live in the vicinity of Akert.

Where can residents go with complaints?

COA has a telephone number 06 29 085 167 on which the residential location can be reached 24 hours, 7 days a week. There is also the national police number (0900-8844) and for emergencies, 112.

There is also good and regular contact between local residents, COA and the municipality to discuss bottlenecks, concerns and solutions. The sounding board group met several times before the opening of the housing location. And this led to adjustments to the access to the COA reception site. These consultations continue now that the housing location has been put into use. This way we continue to see together how things are going in the neighborhood and how the young people can integrate well.

Permits

How did the permitting process for this site go?

Two separate permits were issued for the temporary housing of students and minor aliens. Both applications were submitted on July 21. In addition, a fire compartmentation permit and an Empty Premises Act permit were granted. The municipality received 115 letters of objection. Almost all of them were about the arrival of the minor asylum seekers. An independent objection committee considered the objections and issued a recommendation to the college. The college made a decision on the objections on Feb. 19, 2024.

What does an appeals committee do?

Objections are submitted to an independent objection committee of 4 people. They handle the objections, organize hearings and make recommendations to the college of mayor and aldermen. The college ultimately makes a decision on objection (PDO). This is a procedure prescribed by law. 

What was the committee's recommendation?

The committee's recommendation was to keep the permits in place. However, the committee felt that the permits needed to be improved in certain respects. This concerned in particular the agreements with COA to ensure safety and livability. Those agreements were already in place, but the committee was of the opinion that we needed to lay down more in the permit.

What was the college's decision?

The college largely accepted the committee's advice. The permits have remained in place, but have been modified. The agreements we had already made with COA have been added to the permit. We did not adopt some of the committee's suggestions for improvement. We found these unnecessary and in some parts too far-reaching.

Is it still possible to react against this decision of the college?

Following the college's decision, it was possible to file an appeal with the Court within 6 weeks. This period has now expired, so it is now no longer possible to respond. No appeal has been filed. As a result, the temporary permits have become irrevocable.