Student on the ballot: Mina goes for climate targets and affordable housing

“When the topic of students comes up, everyone in the municipal council looks at me”, says Mina Morkoç, a municipal councillor for GroenLinks. The only student on the council is standing for election again for GroenLinks-PvdA.

What would you like to have achieved in the municipal council in four years’ time?

“The climate targets! At the moment it seems we are not going to meet the 2030 targets, but if we really push for them in the coming years it might still be possible. And secondly: that a lot of affordable housing has been built – or that we are building it, because that process always takes time.”

You have now been in the Rotterdam municipal council for four years. Can you give one example of something concrete you have been able to do for students?

“Too many to list. It started in 2022 with the energy allowance. Students were excluded from it. They were told to borrow more money or ask their parents for support. Many students cannot turn to their parents for that, and borrowing money is simply not the solution – by the way, I already have a student debt of about 60,000 euros myself. On my initiative, all young councillors in the Netherlands wrote a letter to the cabinet. Thirty million euros were made available, 3.2 million for Rotterdam, to help students pay their rising energy costs. You had to submit a lot of documents to qualify for it.

“I quickly thought: I know students, this will probably be too much hassle. Students often already feel that they are not entitled to help and therefore do not pursue it. Through a motion I had it recorded that the remaining money always had to go to young people. More than 2 million euros remained, which went to debt assistance for young people so they can continue their studies, and to educational institutions for teaching materials.”

How do you combine being a student and a councillor?

“My studies are a way for me to eventually become a lawyer. At the moment I sometimes work 80 hours a week on my council work – officially it is meant to be two and a half days a week, and I also work two and a half days a week as a legal professional. So I am not the standard student, but I am regularly on campus.

“When the topic of students comes up, everyone in the municipal council quickly looks at me because I am currently the only student on the council. That is nice and unfortunate at the same time. I hope more young people will join the council. Diversity in all respects is important. For example, there are only five councillors who rent their homes and forty who own their homes. I personally pay a huge amount for 30 square metres. The fact that 17,000 homes in the city are standing empty is therefore impossible to explain when so many people are looking for an affordable place to live.

“You have to speak to students to know what is going on and how student culture works. D66 once had a motion on student housing titled ‘earning your door’. I tapped councillor Tim on the shoulder and asked: do you know what that means? He did not. Then I explained that the term comes from student association culture and that you often have to earn the door by having sex in your room. He had to laugh at that.”

Looking at Rotterdam politics, what has really made you angry recently?

“The way Leefbaar and the VVD talk about homeless people. They want to fine homelessness. Think about the future and work on affordable housing so that they too can have a home. And do not talk about these people as if they are objects that you can simply move around. They are still people.”

What is your future dream for Rotterdam?

“A city where people take more account of one another, from small to large, animal and human. That the right balance is found. Rotterdam has given me everything – I was born and raised here. I want others to look at this city in the same way, that it is not just a place you pass through before moving on. That it is a pleasant, liveable city for everyone who wants it.”