The Dutch government will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the use of prefab homes to house asylum seekers.

Prime minister Mark Rutte, just returned from a trade mission to the US, junior justice minister Klaas Dijkhoff, social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher and home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk will discuss the housing crisis with local government association VNG and representatives from the provinces.

The aim is to avoid a repetition of the scenes on Wednesday in the Drenthe village of Oranje when angry locals blocked roads to prevent more asylum seekers arriving after a commitment to limit refugee numbers was broken.

Approval

Currently, 13,000 refugees have approval to stay in the Netherlands but are still living in asylum seeker centres because of the lack of social housing. And because they cannot be moved on, emergency accommodation for refugees is also filling up fast.

The government is now working on a plan to build prefab and container homes. If all the local councils agree to provide land, 23,000 ’emergency’ homes can be built within two weeks, according to the VNG.