Three families of Iraqi Kurds were the first to arrive at the new camp in Grande-Synthe near Dunkirk on the northern French coast, an AFP reporter said late on Monday.
They came from another site nearby where around 1,000 people have been living in miserable conditions with limited protection from the cold.
The new camp, featuring some 200 heated wooden cabins and proper toilets and showers, has been built by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) with the support of the local town hall, despite opposition from the French government.
It lies around 40 kilometers from the largest refugee camp on the outskirts of the port city of Calais, nicknamed the “Jungle,” which is being gradually demolished by the governmental authorities.
The new, 3.1 million euro ($3.4 million) migrant accommodation at Grande-Synthe is thought to be the first in France to meet international standards, and MSF said they hoped soon to have 375 cabins, catering for 2,500 people.
“It’s a great day for human solidarity,” said local Mayor Damien Careme, who fought a battle with the authorities over its construction.
“I’ve overcome a failure of the state,” he said, adding that he could no longer bare the sight of around 75 children living in the original camp.
The move has frustrated the government which has been trying to move refugees away from the northern coast and into centers where their movement is more controlled.
The government’s representative in northern France, Jean-Francois Cordet, said last month: “The government’s policy is not to reconstitute a camp at Grande-Synthe, but to make it go away.”
Several hundred residents from Calais travelled to Paris Monday to demand state support in the face of a huge loss of business caused by the migrant crisis in the port city.