Authorities react to need for more refugee accommodation

More refugees are arriving in Switzerland via the Balkans and other routes. The need for civil defence facilities and multi-purpose halls to accommodate them is therefore increasing.

The government assumes that 19,000 asylum applications will have been received by the end of the year and that an additional 80,000-85,000 people from Ukraine will be in Switzerland. The Federal Office for Migration (SEM) has reacted by temporarily re-opening closed shelters and opening new facilities, an SEM spokesperson told Swiss public radio, SRF on Friday.

In canton Aargau, in northern Switzerland, a shelter for refugees from Ukraine is scheduled to open on Monday. The head of the St Gallen migration office, Jürg Eberle, said the accommodation facilities in his canton were currently at around 75% capacity.

The cantonal directors of social affairs have an overview of vacant places in cantons and say the number has dropped from 9,000 at the beginning of summer to 7,000. Further centres are to be opened in the coming months, depending on demand.