Types of accommodation

Author

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Visit Website

Reception centres are managed by the SAR. As of the end of 2024, there were 4 reception centres in Bulgaria. The total capacity as of 31 December 2024 was as follows:

Source: SAR.[1] Note that the occupancy rate includes asylum seekers accommodated in the closed reception ward within the premises of Busmantsi immigration detention centre – a closed type asylum facility under SAR jurisdiction.

For many years, SAR has been claiming that the maximum capacity of its reception centres was of 5,160 individuals.[2] However, in December 2022 the appointed earlier during that year new SAR management shared[3] that the actual reception capacity was up to 3,932 individuals maximum, since the remaining 1,228 places were located in premises unfit for living. In 2024, the national reception capacity continued to decrease to 3,225 places in all SAR reception centres[4] despite the country having registered 12,250 asylum applicants in 2024 alone. This situation is mostly due to the fact that the SAR did not receive any of the funding requested for repairs or refurbishment[5] in its 2020, 2021, 2023 or 2024 annual budgets. Just BGN 120,000 including VAT were provided in 2022, and no additional funding was provided in 2023, while SAR estimated at the end of 2023[6] to be in need of at least BGN 10,953,746 in order to be able to conduct the most necessary refurbishment, while its entire 2024 budget was of BGN 11,717,200.[7] Temporary protection holders were not accommodated in SAR reception centres as due to the large number of arrivals their housing in the spring of 2022 was secured outside them under a Humanitarian Aid Program[8] adopted in March by the regular government (see Temporary Protection). In 2024, the number of new arrivals in Bulgaria decreased by 45%, which also decreased the occupancy rate to 49%[9] as of the end of the year, when the country usually registers the lowest numbers of the new arrivals due to winter weather conditions. Notwithstanding, the constantly decreasing reception capacity of the SAR (see, Overview of the main changes, Reception centers) would be raising serious concerns due to the high likelihood of over-crowding throughout spring to autumn months, if it was not for the high (99%)[10] absconding rate of Afghan applicants and the rising (57%)[11] absconding rates registered for Syrian applicants at the end of 2024. The absconding rate for Syrians increased significantly after the SAR shifted its policy, from treating these applications as manifestly founded to conducting individual assessment and status determination, which resulted in higher refusal rates (see, Differential treatment of specific nationalities in the procedure). The main reason for Afghan absconding can be likely found in the low recognition rates for these nationalities, which varied from 0.1% to 14% over a ten-year period. As a consequence, many Afghan applicants do not wish to continue their asylum process in Bulgaria (see Differential treatment of specific nationalities in the procedure).

1,579 asylum seekers resided in reception centres as of the end of 2024, thereby marking an occupancy rate of 49%.

Wherever possible, there is a genuine effort to accommodate nuclear families together and in separate rooms. Single asylum seekers are accommodated together with others, although conditions vary considerably from one centre to another. Some of the shelters are used for accommodation predominantly of a certain nationality or nationalities. For example, Vrazhdebna shelter in Sofia accommodated predominantly Syrians and Iraqis, Voenna Rampa shelter in Sofia accommodates predominantly Afghan and Pakistani asylum seekers, while the other reception centres accommodate mixed nationalities, such as in Harmanli reception centre, Banya reception centre and Ovcha Kupel shelter in Sofia. In the end of 2024, the oldest reception facility of Ovcha Kupel shelter in Sofia which is at a state of complete dilapidation remained to be used as accommodation solely for unaccompanied children in the safe-zone area, managed by IOM.[12]

Alternative accommodation outside the reception centres is allowed under the law, but only if it is paid by asylum seekers themselves and if they have consented to waive their right to social and material support.[13] They must submit a formal waiver from their right to accommodation and social assistance, as warranted by law, and declare to cover rent and other related costs at their own expenses.[14] Except for the few asylum seekers who are able to finance private accommodation on their own, another group of individuals living at external addresses is that of Dublin returnees, to whom the SAR applies the exclusion from social benefits, including accommodation, as a measure of sanction in accordance with the law (see Withdrawal of Reception Conditions).[15]

[1] SAR, reg. №АД-07-7 from 14 January 2025.

[2] 110th Coordination meeting held on 10 January 2022.

[3] 118th Coordination meeting held on 22 December 2022.

[4] 134th Coordination Meeting held on 19 December 2024.

[5] SAR, reg. №АД-07-7 from 14 January 2025.

[6] SAR reg.№ЦУ-РД05-123/27.02.2024.

[7] SAR, reg. №АД-07-7 from 14 January 2025.

[8] COM No.145 from 10 March 2022.

[9] 134th Coordination meeting held on 19 December 2024.

[10] 1,969 terminated procedures out of all 1,980 Afghan applicants.

[11] 4,357 terminated procedures out of all 7,646 Syrian applicants.

[12] 129th Coordination meeting, 9 May 2024.

[13] Article 29(9) LAR.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Article 29(4) LAR.