This week the national council of student associations LKvV sent an urgent letter to DUWO, the housing association, about the pick your housemate-policy. That’s more than one-and-a-half months after the Delft and Leiden municipal councils adopted motions about the proposed system. What was written in the motions and what will DUWO do next?
Apart from well-known actors, another 40 or so extras are on stage in the ‘Willem van Oranje’ musical in Delft. TU Delft student Jesse Vleeschdraager is one of them. “I pretend to hang a monk, it’s fun.”
Renting a room above a shop or café? The National Students’ Union (LSVb) wants to make it easier. “Some local authorities are going overboard with regulations,” says chairperson Maaike Krom after an investigation.
The government believes landlords should be able to offer students short-term tenancy agreements. It also proposes allowing rents for properties in the city centre to rise. The Woonbond has criticised the plans.
On Saturday 9 May, solid, expertly constructed wooden obstacles will dominate the campus. Around a thousand participants will take part in SurvivalStrijd, the annual survival run organised by student sports outdoor sports association Slopend. Delta observed a preparatory training session: “This is where you learn the basic techniques.”
Even after losing two court cases, VU University Amsterdam continues to charge international students a housing fee for arranging accommodation. TU Delft also charges a housing fee.
In 2025, thirty thousand students paid a combined total of 5.6 million euros in public transport fines. An alternative could make these fines unnecessary, but the ministry has never considered it.
Both students and local politicians are opposing DUWO’s new housemate selection policy, but the Minister of Housing does not intend to intervene.
For weeks, there was unrest among sixteen international student societies. Their shared workspace and meeting place on the Kanaalweg was in danger of closing down, forcing them to look for alternatives. That threat has been averted for the time being: the DUWO housing association has withdrawn its notice of termination. But there is little sense of relief.
