Geneva, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) - Geneva, like the rest of Switzerland, has been told to reduce the number of places it offers refugees as a result of a September 2006 Swiss-wide popular referendum. But the obligation since January 2008 to reduce the housing the canton provides, coupled with an increase of 284 refugees during the third quarter of 2008, is giving the canton with the country’s worst housing shortage a major logistical headache, reports 20 Minutes.

The online newspaper says the interim solutions include turning single rooms into double rooms. The canton has a total of 3,884 refugees.

The referendum in 2006 passed with nearly 68% of voters saying yes to restrictions. The proponents of the revision argued that abuses were too widespread. The number of refugees fell after it peaked in 2004, but Switzerland remained, at the time of the vote, “though Switzerland remains one of the world’s top destinations for asylum seekers in proportion to its population,” the International Herald Tribune remarked at the time.

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