ORAS and STIP want more shared student accommodation built. They state this in a letter to all the party chairs of the national political parties.
Students would rather live in a student house than a studio (Photo: Justyna Botor)
Along with the Landelijke Kamer van Verenigingen (LKvV, national chamber of associations), TU Delft students’ ORAS party and Delft’s municipal council STIP party sent a letter (in Dutch) to the national politicians about the shortage of student housing and the effects this is having on student welfare. More student rooms are needed to improve their welfare. One of the arguments they put forward in their letter is that students cannot use the time that they spend in the train to build up a social life.
The signatories want an additional 60,000 affordable student homes by 2030. At present, the Netherlands is facing a shortage (in Dutch) of 24,000 student homes. Unless action is taken, the signatories say that this will rise to a shortage of 57,000 student rooms by 2030. They quote this figure on Kences’, a knowledge institute, Landelijke monitor studentenhuisvesting 2023 (in Dutch).
Student houses
They also want half these new rooms to not be self-contained, in other words, rooms in student houses with shared amenities such as bathrooms, living rooms and kitchens. At TU Delft, STIP is working on this. ‘In Delft, we see that the municipality and housing corporations would rather not build self-contained student houses, but national policy regularly stands in the way of building shared student rooms. The hands of the municipality and the housing corporation are tied’, states Municipal Council member Lisanne Fung Fen Chung in the press release attached to the letter.
Finally, they suggest introducing a rent allowance for shared student housing. At present, rent allowance (in Dutch) can only be applied for for self-contained living spaces. The Government’s rule is that the living space has to have its own kitchen and toilet. From 1 March 2024 onwards, it also has to have its own shower or bathroom to qualify for rent allowance.
‘The current policy encourages inefficient building. As it is only financially attractive to build self-contained units, we are taking up valuable space by placing separate amenities in each home’, write the organisations in the letter. They also say that it is not only about new builds. When renovating student complexes, the shared accommodation gives way to studios.
Apart from the organisations in Delft, organisations and groups from other student cities like Groningen and Utrecht have also signed the letter.
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