Municipalities in canton Bern must provide 1,200 additional places for asylum seekers by the end of September, the integration and social assistance office said on Friday.
Where exactly the additional places will be created has not yet been established. Bern has commissioned six of ten city mayors to find suitable accommodations.
The locations will be distributed among the administrative districts in proportion to the size of the population and would also take into consideration the places already available, the office stated.
The affected districts will have to create 50 to 300 new places.
Since the spring of 2022, the canton has commissioned around 30 new housing facilities with a capacity of 3,500 places, the integration and social assistance office indicated. The real estate market for properties suitable for group housing has now been largely exhausted.
Based on a ruling by the government at the beginning of July, municipalities can be obliged to provide suitable places that are available at short notice and for a maximum of two years.
Last week the cantonal office had made the decision to prepare emergency shelters. Currently, a total of 42 collective shelters are available in canton Bern. Six of these facilities are for people requesting special protection status, 22 for regular asylum seekers and 14 for unaccompanied minors. As reported at the beginning of August, there are currently 7,801 protection seekers, 6,157 regular asylum seekers and 507 unaccompanied minors being cared for in canton Bern.