EU allocates €116 million to develop its own shelter reserves

On 4 April, the EU allocated €116.6 million to Croatia, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye to procure and host new rescEU shelter reserves able to accommodate thousands of people.

In an emergency, the rescEU reserve provides assistance to all EU Member States, Participating States to the Mechanism, and can also be deployed to EU neighbouring countries.

These reserves will consist of high quality emergency shelter units such as light prefabricated structures, flat-pack containers and emergency tents. The living units will be complemented by other facilities such as showers and toilets, industrial kitchens, laundry and communal areas, with special attention paid to safe spaces for children and the most vulnerable.

This new reserve comes in addition to the previously allocated €62.3 million for emergency shelter and a stock of beds to be used for the Ukraine crisis in emergency reception centres. From this initial rescEU reserve, 3,000 equipped relief housing units and almost 5,000 additional beds were deployed to Ukraine and neighbouring countries such as Slovakia.

Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said this was a major step in the EU’s crisis response as it enhanced its preparedness for sudden large-scale movements of people, like within and outside of Ukraine’s borders because of Russia’s war.

“Shelter is a basic human need, but it’s far more than just a roof over one’s head. Shelter provides security, protection and dignity to people uprooted from their homes,” Lenarčič added.

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Press release