International students frequently victims of bad landlords & discrimination, says union

International students are still the victims of bias when searching for a home, and are often targeted by exploitative landlords, said the national student union LSVb on Tuesday. While students from the Netherlands do not necessarily have an easy time finding an affordable place to stay during their study, international students are often treated worse, the LSVb said in a report about the housing situation during the 2021-2022 academic year.

"This experience is often one of exclusion and increased costs," the organization stated in its report. International students often paid 34 euros per square meter for a shared housing space, roughly 21 percent more than Dutch students. A one-room home cost international students 31 euros per square meter on average nationally, a 35 percent increase over Dutch students' housing costs. The price for a space of two rooms or more was slightly higher at 15 euros per square meter, up from 14 euros.

"Whilst this may be unsurprising due to the wide variety of cultures that provides the Netherlands with students, it remains problematic in that the difference in housing costs are significant. Furthermore, international students face discriminiation in the acquisition of housing as well as their treatment by landlords in the Netherlands," the LSVb stated. The organization made the conclusion after analyzing 525 reports about housing and maintenance submitted through its Housing Hotline during the last academic year.

"Not only does it appear to be particularly difficult for international students to find housing in the first place, highlighted by the high proportion of the reports to the Housing Hotline, once they do find housing they spend more than Dutch students on all kinds of housing whilst their budgets are commonly far lower than that of Dutch students," the LSVb said. Further, there is a continued problem with landlords refusing to rent to people from outside the Netherlands, or making it difficult. The problem is a structural one, the organization said, noting that international students are also more "vulnerable."

International students are often faced with "unacceptable housing conditions" due to issues related to poor maintenance or mold, and landlords refusing to reimburse students who handle maintenance issues on their own. Landlords also frequently withhold deposits and refuse to refund them with little cause. "This is compounded by many landlords asking for two months rent instead of one in the case of international students, with the cost of paying the deposit being prohibitive to prospective residents to begin with and the cause of much frustration when the deposit is eventually not returned to the students residing in these dwellings."

Last year, the international student body rose by 12 percent to 115,000 higher education students, according to Nuffic. Students were most frequently from other European Union countries, with Germany, Italy, and Romania leading the way. There were also strong increases in students from Poland and Spain. About 25 percent of international students are from outside the EU, representing 68 countries in all.

Meanwhile, there was a shortage of nearly 27,000 housing placements for students, "with this shortage being particularly acute in cities where the proportion of international students was high in comparison to cities with fewer international students," the LSVb said.

The bias and discrimination these students face "regularly leads to distressing situations, such as a Groningen student having to sleep on a friend's couch in Amsterdam. The alternative was the street," said Joram van Velzen, the chair of the LSVb.