Crisis care for asylum seekers organised by one of the 25 Dutch safety boards is on average twice as expensive as regular accommodation provided by refugee settlement agency COA, current affairs show Nieuwsuur reported on Friday afternoon.

The safety regions charge between €130 and €175 per person per night, while the COA estimates the average cost at just under €77.

The safety boards say their charges are so high because emergency accommodation is often put together from scratch in sports halls, ferries and offices.

The fee also includes three meals a day and security, which is often organised by local firms. Until 2020, the security boards had an upper limit of €100 per person which they could pass on to the COA but the ceiling was then scrapped.

Currently, 30,000 asylum seekers and refugees with residency permits are living in one of the 81 formal COA centres. A further 15,000 are living in emergency accommodation organised by the COA and 7,000 are in safety board crisis centres.