Clashing values around choosing housemates: DUWO wants equal access, students fear the demise of student associations

The way in which DUWO, the student housing provider, plans to change its pick-your-housemate-policy poses a threat to the student culture, social cohesion and student well-being. This is the main message of the open letter which 18 TU Delft student associations sent to Anneleen Lagae, DUWO’s Manager, on Friday 5 December. It also reached the local media (in Dutch)

Greater equality in opportunities

Earlier this year, DUWO had announced that it wanted to change its pick-your-housemate-policy and to discuss this with students. At present, residents of DUWO houses with shared amenities choose a flatmate themselves during vote-in evenings (in Delft these evenings are called vote-ins). The housing provider wants to place these evenings on room.nl from now on. This is the platform which contains a lot of their available accommodation. Apart from this, DUWO also wants to make a pre-selection of room seekers among whom residents can then choose. DUWO believes that a system like this is not only more transparent, but would give greater equality in opportunities. Students without large networks could then also be invited for vote-ins.

Membership of student associations no longer a condition

DUWO also spoke out against a student association requirement in a recent letter (in Dutch) to the Mayor and Municipal Executive of Leiden, where the housing policy will also be changed. For some rooms, eligibility is tied to membership in a particular student association specified by the residents. In its letter to the Municipal Executive, the housing provider writes that rooms for which you have to be a member of a particular student association do not fit in ‘the accessibility of social rentals for every student’. In short, it says, this is a form of exclusion.

It seems as if the outcome of the discussion has already been determined in advance, says the Delft Student Association Council

Lucas van Krimpen of the Association Council (VeRa), the umbrella organisation of 18 student associations in Delft, says that it is the letter that is causing them concern. They decided to take action and to send the seven page letter on the eve of a discussion about the housemate selection policy. “We will meet with DUWO on Tuesday 16 December, but when I read the letter sent in Leiden, it looks as though the outcome has already been decided,” he says. “After all, DUWO has also publicly spoken out against membership of a student association as a condition.”

Fear for the demise of student association houses

In their letter, the student associations link mental wellbeing to the option of being free to choose your new housemates. Social unity is namely ‘a powerful protective factor’ in mental health and flourishes in a close-knit house, say the letter writers. A close-knit house can often be achieved if residents have complete freedom in choosing their new housemate. They connect the continuation of the TU Delft student association culture to the option of membership of a certain association as a condition for housing. Without a ‘suitable house’, student associations would not be able to care for or keep their new members. ‘If the student association houses disappear, a social structure disappears that cannot be recreated elsewhere.’

Lieve Mark Foundation carried out research on the private housing policy

They also write that there is no support for the new shared housing policy. In doing so, the letter writers refer to recent research that the Lieve Mark Foundation did of 2,500 TU Delft and Leiden University respondents, of whom 93% are members of, or are intending to become members of, a sports or study association. Dutch students rated DUWO’s plan of doing a preselection from which the residents could choose their new housemate as insufficient. International students rated it sufficient.  

‘It’s about dozens of houses’

Jelle van Kempen, DUWO Director, was not willing to say much about the letter. “I understand that they are concerned, but I would rather carry out this conversation on 16 December than do so in the media,” he said. He stressed that students, even with a preselection by DUWO, still have enough choice.

‘How fair is it if only members of a student association can apply?’

And what about the letter that DUWO itself sent? “We want one policy across the country. What we say in Leiden applies to other places too.” He believes that it is not about a handful of DUWO houses where only members of one student association are voted for. “There are dozens,” said Van Kempen, “while student associations also manage real estate committees and housing themselves. You could do more with these if you want to keep association houses.”

He continues. “I want to ask students to also look at it from our perspective. Our judicial task is to offer housing to all sorts of students. How fair is it if only members may apply?”

The DUWO Director says that “all options are definitely still open. The meeting on 16 December is really intended to discuss the values that everyone has and what we want to create. Only after that will there be a discussion about the rules connected to them.”