Student orgs. plead for intervention in growing student housing shortage

The Netherlands has a shortage of tens of thousands of student rooms, and that number is expected to increase in the coming years. Student organizations are pleading for the government to intervene.

The knowledge center Platform31 thinks the government can free up billions of euros for building student rooms by cutting the rent allowance for less popular student studios. Building studio apartments for students is currently more financially attractive for developers because they can then apply for a rent allowance. “This system incentive ensures that student housing providers can build studios, while building cheaper student rooms is unprofitable,” said Platform31 housing market expert Frans Dirks.

Around 187,000 students are currently eligible for a rent allowance, receiving an average of around 281 euros per month. “Say we reduce the rent allowance by an average of 50 euros per studio, then 9.3 million euros will be available each month to invest in the construction of new student rooms,” Dirks said. That is over 112 million euros per year and 1.1 billion over ten years.” That money can fund the construction of over 2,800 student rooms in the first year alone.

This summer, the student union LSVb presented a petition to parliament, asking the national government to step in and address the housing shortage. “Housing is one of our biggest concerns day and night,” chairman Abldekader Karbache told AD. “There are really far too few rooms, and they are becoming unaffordable.”

Femmie van Lemmer from Friesland is about to start teacher training in Zwolle. She is going to use the introduction week to try her luck in finding a room. Because if she can’t, she’ll ve to travel just under two hours to her lessons every day. “I don’t know how long I will be able to keep it up and continue to enjoy it,” she told RTV Oost.

Nike Oosterhoff, vice chairman of the student association ZHTC, told the broadcaster that many first-year students can’t find a room, or at least not one they can afford. Student housing prices skyrocketed in Zwolle last year. “There is little housing, and little is being built” Oosterhoff said. The housing shortage is also affecting the student association. “Because we rely on new students who also want to move to Zwolle and start student life here. And that is often more difficult if you still live with your parents further away.”

Student Lisa van der Linde said it took her more than a year to find a room. She advises first-year students to actively search in Facebook groups, register with the housing corporation SSH, and invest time in searching for a room every day. “Because sometimes you can get that room at sport 13 instead of spot 1 if you are on top of it,” she told RTV Oost. It also helped her to be a member of a student association, she said.