{"id":100995,"date":"2019-07-22T09:16:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T07:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=100995"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:24","slug":"how-hard-is-it-to-find-housing-if-youre-an-international-student-with-a-functional-impairment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/07\/22\/how-hard-is-it-to-find-housing-if-youre-an-international-student-with-a-functional-impairment\/","title":{"rendered":"How hard is it to find housing if you\u2019re an international student with a functional impairment?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year, EUR reserves student accommodation for about 25 percent of its new international student intake. Furthermore, the university is required to offer international students with a functional impairment with appropriate housing. However, these requirements only apply to the students\u2019 first year in Rotterdam, when they first arrive in the city. So what happens afterwards? Do international students with a functional impairment manage to find their way in Rotterdam\u2019s housing market?<\/p>\n

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Hatta<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMilena Chopova<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Erasmus University wishes to play a more active part in international students\u2019 housing. Last month the Executive Board decided that the university will establish its own housing services unit. This unit is to support international students in finding a place to live, but will also help them sort out contract-related matters. \u201cThe International Office is currently making preparations for such an organisation, so we are not quite there yet,\u201d a university spokesperson tells us. \u201cWe hope to get started this summer and be completely operational by next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new organisation will come too late for Argentinean student L\u00eda Barrese. She is completing her International Master degree in Global Markets, Local Creativities (GLOCAL) this summer, but hasn\u2019t lived in Rotterdam since March. \u201cMy lease expired at the end of February, and I haven\u2019t been able to find a place since,\u201d she tells us.<\/p>\n

Unexpected turn of events<\/h2>

In September 2018 Barrese embarked on her year at Erasmus University. She is doing an Erasmus Mundus joint master degree, which means she gets to study at three different universities over the course of two years. Before she came to Rotterdam, she spent four months in Glasgow, as well as eight months in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

When she first arrived in Rotterdam, Barrese took a six-month lease on an apartment she had found without the university\u2019s assistance. \u201cI was planning to move to Barcelona, since I\u2019d been offered a job there and was told I\u2019d be able to start in March,\u201d she says. So she was planning to write her thesis in Barcelona. \u201cWhich is why I only got a six-month lease.\u201d<\/p>\n

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L\u00eda Barrese at campus Woudestein<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFeba Sukmana<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

However, in late February there was an unexpected turn of events. The start date of her new job was pushed back to September. As a result, Barrese was able to stay in Rotterdam longer than expected. Since she was unable to extend her lease, she immediately contacted SSH, the room rental agency. By that stage, there were no longer any adapted rooms available in the Hatta Building. Instead, Barrese was offered a non-adapted room. \u201cBut that room is unsuitable in nearly every regard,\u201d she tells us. \u201cThe bathroom hasn\u2019t been adapted, for example.\u201d She then contacted many EUR units for assistance, ranging from the Diversity Office to Student Affairs, but to no avail. \u201cThey all say housing is not their responsibility. Some units didn\u2019t even bother to reply.\u201d In the end, only one course of action remained open to her \u2013 returning to Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n

Attentive course coordinator<\/h2>

Irish student Amy Hassett is wheelchair-bound as well, and lives in an adapted room in the Hatta Building. She completely understands what Barrese had to deal with. \u201cI was fortunate enough to have a very attentive course coordinator,\u201d says the master student in Neuroscience. \u201cRight from the time I enrolled she reserved an adapted room for me at Hatta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hassett says that without her course coordinator it would have been impossible for her to find housing. \u201cI have no idea how I\u2019m supposed to find an adapted room in the Dutch housing market. There is hardly any English-language information on the subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amy Hassett in her room in the Hatta Building<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMilena Chopova<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Her lease expires next month, as students are only allowed to stay at Hatta for one year. SSH offered her a non-adapted room \u2013 i.e. without grab rails and without a seat in the bathroom and toilet \u2013 but she rejected it. \u201cThe room is on the fifteenth floor, and I don\u2019t think it would be safe to live that far up,\u201d Hassett explains. \u201cIf there\u2019s a fire, the lift won\u2019t work. So how will I get downstairs in my wheelchair?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, her course coordinator once again helped her find a place to live. Hassett has been offered a room at the Student Hotel. She likes it, but there is a bit of a problem: \u201cI can\u2019t afford the room. It\u2019s twice as expensive as my current room.\u201d She is in the process of applying for an EUR allowance towards the cost of the adapted room. \u201cI hope it works out, because I simply don\u2019t have that much money lying around.\u201d<\/p>\n

No central register<\/h2>

\u201cThe main thing I found missing was some engagement on EUR\u2019s part,\u201d says Barrese. \u201cI\u2019m a student with a functional impairment, but they left me to sort everything out by myself.\u201d Hassett completely understands why Barrese feels that way. \u201cEUR doesn\u2019t have a separate department where students with a functional impairment can turn to for help,\u201d says Hassett. \u201cWhen I arrived, I wanted to let the university know that I\u2019m in a wheelchair, but my course coordinator told me EUR doesn\u2019t have a central register for this sort of information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The university has established a \u2018Studying with a Functional Impairment\u2019 student panel<\/a>, but does not yet have a centralised department where information on students\u2019 impairment status can be registered. Furthermore, international students are often subject to different arrangements than their Dutch counterparts<\/a>. For instance, there are only a few situations in which international students are eligible for an allowance by the Student Financial Support Fund (\u2018profileringsfonds<\/em>\u2019) in the event that they fall behind in their studies. <\/p>\n

Exact number of rooms unknown<\/h2>

\u201cWe\u2019re expanding our number of rooms,\u201d says an EUR spokesperson. At present, some 25 percent of newly arrived international students can hire rooms from the university. \u201cIn a perfect world, we\u2019d like to be able to offer 60 percent of new students housing, but it will take us a while to get round to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

EUR currently collaborates with housing agencies such as Xior, Stadswonen and SSH to provide international students with housing. Officially, Stadswonen and Xior do not offer any specially adapted rooms because there is \u2018little to no demand\u2019 for them. \u201cBut that is not to say that we don\u2019t have any suitable rooms available,\u201d explains Enrica Bruyninckx of Stadswonen. \u201cWe seek to get disabled students rooms through personalised solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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