{"id":143543,"date":"2022-09-07T12:22:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T10:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=143543"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:24","slug":"consultation-hour-in-kralingen-i-dont-really-like-students-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/09\/07\/consultation-hour-in-kralingen-i-dont-really-like-students-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Consultation hour in Kralingen: ‘I don’t really like students anymore’"},"content":{"rendered":"

During an open consultation hour last Wednesday, residents of Kralingen had the chance to express their dissatisfaction with the nuisance caused by students in their neighbourhood. Together with the municipality and enforcement agents, they discussed problems and solutions. The residents no longer talk to students. \u201cI\u2019ve had bad experiences with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Student houses in Kralingen<\/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\tSanne van der Most<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Francis van der Starre stares ahead, dejected. She is one of the neighbourhood residents at a walk-in consultation hour held by the municipality in a back room of the Protestant Christian conference centre Pro Rege on Oudedijk. She declines coffee. \u201cWhen I asked them at six o\u2019clock in the morning if they could stop making noise, the drunkards threw things at me. Luckily, I was on the other side of the water so I didn\u2019t get hit. But I was scared.\u201d She lives on Oostmaaslaan across from the Erasmus International House, a large complex for international students. Students stay up partying on the building\u2019s rooftop terrace until late at night. She has been lodging complaints for seven years without a solution.<\/p>\n

Traffic light system <\/h2>

Van der Starre is therefore pleased that she can now at least tell her story during the walk-in consultation hour. The municipality is trying to organise these walk-in consultation hours every other Wednesday. Neighbourhood networker Cherif Jeffali, residential nuisance expert Rob Keereweer, enforcement agents Ramon Hoen and Nino Papa and fellow resident and director of citizens\u2019 movement Stop Overlast Kralingen (STOK) Hetty Rommers wait for the residents with a cup of coffee or tea.<\/p>\n

The ongoing nuisance that Kralingen residents face from student houses called for more drastic measures<\/a>. Since February, the municipality has therefore implemented the so-called \u2018traffic light system\u2019. This system places student houses in the category of \u2018green\u2019, \u2018yellow\u2019, \u2018orange\u2019 or \u2018red\u2019. If a house is categorised as red, there is a chance that the police will pressure the landlord to revoke the room permit and that the tenant will have to pay a penalty of \u20ac3,000. Stewards will also patrol the neighbourhood to deal with the noise on the street during the night. As of 1 September, it is no longer possible to apply for a permit to rent rooms to three or more students. Rob Keereweer from the municipality is pleased with this change. \u201cHopefully, this will reduce the number of houses being divided up into separately rented rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Screaming Italians<\/h2>

Measures were taken prior to the introduction of the traffic light system, but they were often ineffective. For example, student housing provider SSH, which manages the Erasmus International House, installed a smart Mosquito alarm above the rooftop terrace. This allows neighbourhood residents to activate a high-pitched tone via an app, which is meant to drive the students away. But that device does not work, according to Van der Starre, who also controls the alarm with an app. \u201cThey put the thing on the rooftop terrace at the international students\u2019 house, but they don\u2019t even seem to hear it. They keep coming back.\u201d Enough is enough, she says. \u201cI don\u2019t really like students anymore. Every night, I hear screaming Italians.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Van der Starre, SSH is officially supposed to close the rooftop terrace at 10.00 p.m. That is what the cooperative has agreed with the municipality. But in practice, this does not happen. \u201cThe DJs don\u2019t start spinning until after ten o\u2019clock. Sometimes as many as two hundred students come to these house parties. Then they all call their friends. And even if the police come and ask them to stop, the party will keep going once the police are gone. You don\u2019t get a wink of sleep all night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t