France's Cazeneuve announces support for refugee housing
French town councils which create accommodation for hosting refugees will receive 1,000 euros for each new place created by 2017, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Saturday.
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Additional aid will be provided to public and private owners providing local housing, he said during a meeting of French mayors at the Maison de la Chimie conference centre in Paris.
A fund will also be established to support venture capital financing for building projects which are creating living quarters or housing, he said.
Cazeneuve said Prime Minister Manuel Valls will this week unveil additional measures to increase the space for accommodating asylum seekers in reception centres, so as to ensure that they “are welcomed with the best conditions," he said. Valls will present the measures to the National Assembly on Wednesday during the debate on asylum.
Representatives from some 700 towns were gathered at the conference on refugee support Saturday, according to the ministry.
French President Francois Hollande announced this week that the country would accept 24,000 refugees over the next two years, with the first groups arriving this week from Munich.
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