FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless, published a policy statement on how to guarantee adequate reception conditions of asylum seekers with a view on homelessness.
The policy statement draws attention to the rapidly increasing number of asylum seekers and the need to ensure access to decent housing. However, housing constitutes a severe problem as there are structural problems such as high housing prices and shortages, making governments increasingly rely on homeless service providers which only have limited resources or do not exist at all in some regions. As a consequence, quality housing cannot be ensured and refugees often have to live in emergency solutions such as over-crowded tents or containers.
In order to improve the situation, FEANTSA calls on the European Union to among others involve homeless service providers in the development of asylum and migration policies, to invest in the reception capacity and affordable housing opportunities and to refrain from criminalizing service providers which support irregularly residing migrants.
The full policy statement can be accessed here.