Shelter Skelter

The UDI has decided that Ålesund will house an asylum facility. Taking a clue from the recent dust-up over the suggestion that 150 asylum seekers be housed in one high rise tower (and possibly from what happened in my small town), the new ‘facility’ will actually house the seekers in apartments around town. Deprived of the easy target of dense settlement, and perhaps disarmed by a UDI public relations campaign that featured interviews with two model citizens who arrived as asylum seekers about 10 years ago, opposition has been left fuming about the impact of distributed settlement on the local rental market.

Comments left on the local papers web site fret about increased criminality as a result of the asylum, or more specifically, about criminality associated with unaccompanied male asylum-seekers between the ages of 20-30.

The speed with which the asylum will be established is astonishing. Officials indicate that the facility will be up and running in approximately 5 weeks. A public meeting will be held to discuss the plans later this week.