Rotterdam higher education institutions sound the alarm: ‘Severe student housing shortage’

The three educational institutions have called on the municipal authorities to join forces with them to try to help students who are unable to find a place to live, as they have found that some of the thirty thousand new students who have recently arrived in Rotterdam are having great difficulty doing so.

“There is a great need for more affordable student housing to ensure that the many students stay in our city, both during and after their studies”, reads a passage in a letter to the municipal authorities posted on the website of Hogeschool Rotterdam. “A targeted approach is urgently needed to ensure that new students find a place and students who have been here for a while have the opportunity to move up. We are explicitly also asking you to look into temporary housing for international students.”

“We support the measures the Rotterdam municipal government has already implemented in order to make going to uni more feasible for all students and increase the capacity of student accommodation, but more is needed”, says Wijnand van den Brink, who serves on the Board of Hogeschool Rotterdam, on behalf of the three higher education institutions. “We ask that you make this issue even more of a priority so as to prevent students from leaving the city.” The universities have called on the local authorities to join forces with them and the housing associations, so as to find some solutions and work on creating a ‘sustainable supply of student housing’.

The universities even plan to ask their own students and employees to help out and provide students who are looking for a room with a temporary roof over their heads. According to Profielen, Hogeschool Rotterdam has posted a request for such help on its intranet. In the message, the university asks employees or students who have a spare room or some empty corner to help out a student who is looking for a room of their own.