Vocational students often excluded from Amsterdam student housing

Secondary vocational (MBO) students are often excluded from student housing in Amsterdam, even though the city desperately needs these professionals. Refusing a tenant due to their level of study is not prohibited, Parool reports.

The newspaper spoke to a 20-year-old who studies design at the Media College near Sloterdijk. For three years, he’s been taking public transport from Middenmeer to Amsterdam - a three-hour round trip - for his studies because he can’t find anywhere to live in Amsterdam student housing. He often hears: “Unfortunately, our homes are only intended for HBO and WO students.” His sister, who studies at the University of Amsterdam, did find a home.

That’s not an isolated experience in Amsterdam, Hanna Smith, the youth housing consultant at the !Woon Foundation, told the newspaper. According to her, “habituation” is the main problem. MBO students were only legally recognized as students in 2020. Before that, they were considered “participants” and couldn’t join student associations, participate in student sports, or qualify for student housing.

Alderman Zita Pels (Public Housing) also told Parool that old policy is the main problem here. She called it terrible that young people are disadvantaged so early in their lives, especially because Amsterdam is in desperate need of young professionals.

Whenever the city receives a report of an MBO student being excluded from student housing, the municipality contacts the landlord and advises them to adjust their policy. Such a change costs a landlord no effort, Pels said. “They can decide tomorrow to adjust the conditions and ensure all MBO students get a place in student housing.”

“It would make a huge difference if we could tackle this problem legally in one fell swoop, but that is complicated,” Pels said. Landlords have freedom of contract, which means they have complete control over which tenant they choose. Discriminating against tenants is prohibited, but selection based on educational level is not yet legally qualified as discrimination. The national government “must change that as quickly as possible,” Pels said.

Ardin Mourik, the student housing director at the Ministry of Home Affairs, has had the exclusion of MBO students from student housing on his radar for some time. Part of the solution could be involving MBO schools in the discussion about student housing, he said. But a bigger issue is changing the culture so that MBO students are seen as full-fledged students, he told Parool. “It is a long-term process.”