Your municipality offers you a home
After you have the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) choose a municipality for you, that municipality must find a home for you. What kind of home this is depends on your situation.
It can take a long time for the municipality to get a home
Municipalities officially have 10 weeks to find you a home. But because there are too few houses in the Netherlands, it takes several months on average to find you one. Until you get a home, you can stay in
You get a home that fits your income and number of family members
Municipalities choose a home for you that suits your situation. They take into account your income, the size of your family and whether you have applied for family reunification. It can be an independent rental home for a longer period of time, a home for a short period of time or a shared home with more people.
A shared home is often for when you are young and alone in the Netherlands, without a family. Or for people who have applied for family reunification, but whose family is not yet in the Netherlands. You then temporarily live in shared home until your family is in the Netherlands and the municipality offers you a home for your entire family.
In any case, the home is social housing. These are cheaper homes that are affordable to people with lower incomes.
You will receive a letter when there is a home for you
If the municipality finds a home for you, you will receive a letter. That letter will tell you when you can view the home and sign the rental agreement.
The municipality offers you one home. You cannot choose between homes and you only get one option from the municipality. If you refuse the home, you will not be offered a new home.