{"id":80568,"date":"2017-09-20T13:43:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T11:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=80568"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:51","slug":"internationals-forced-to-hostel-hop-due-to-housing-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/09\/20\/internationals-forced-to-hostel-hop-due-to-housing-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Internationals forced to hostel hop due to housing problem"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Emma Bartley on her bed in Stayokay Rotterdam<\/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\tAnna Mazur<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Because of the huge housing problem in Rotterdam, many students are forced to stay in hostels. They don\u2019t have their own space and sleep in dormitories, sometimes sharing with fifty other people. \u201cLast night a man entered our room\u00a0through an unprotected window and walked around the dorm trying to steal our stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Absolutely no chance\r\n\r\n<\/h3>
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Pier Traldi in Stayokay Rotterdam<\/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\tAnna Mazur<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

\u201cYou have absolutely no chance,\u201d says Pier Traldi, looking gloomily at a Facebook page for accommodation on his laptop. \u201cWithin a few minutes, the response list for housing advertisements is completely full with responses from other students.\u201d It\u2019s 5.00 p.m., Beyonc\u00e9 booms out of the speakers and two early drinkers are already enjoying cocktails at the bar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 1 September, Pier (half Kenyan, half Italian, big hair) has been staying in the Stayokay hostel, which is based in the cube houses next to Blaak railway station. Every three hours, he checks the Facebook pages for rooms, so far without success. He stays positive, books his hostel bed for a week at a time because he\u2019s hoping to find a room at any moment. \u201cI\u2019ve heard that more rooms come on the market after 1 October because that\u2019s when graduates leave their accommodation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More and more internationals<\/h3>

Manager of Stayokay Rotterdam, Sander Bodegraven, wanders around the caf\u00e9 chatting to guests. \u201cThere\u2019s clearly a housing problem in Rotterdam,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re getting more and more international students staying here.\u201d He walks to the computer behind the reception desk and checks his administration. \u201cThis year we\u2019ve already had 147 requests for a bed from international students, which in relative terms is a lot for this place, and the year\u2019s not over yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hostel hopping<\/h3>
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Bethiah Negussie on her new made bed<\/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\tAnna Mazur<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Bethiah Negussie is waiting at the reception desk because her pass doesn\u2019t work. She comes from Ethiopia and started her IBCoM studies this year. She\u2019d already spent four months looking for a room from her homeland, without success. She\u2019s booked a month in this hostel and then hopes to have found a room. Apart from sleeping, she doesn\u2019t spend much time in her seven-bed dormitory; she\u2019s often in the caf\u00e9 downstairs. \u201cThere\u2019s some privacy there, but there\u2019s also constant music, so I can\u2019t concentrate if I\u2019m studying.\u201d When Bethiah arrives in her dormitory, her bed has been stripped and is ready for a new guest. \u201cThey seem to have forgotten that I\u2019m here for the whole month. Oh well, at least I have a nice clean bed,\u201d she says resignedly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bethiah shares her girls-only\u00a0dormitory with law student Emma Bartley from Australia. She\u2019s lying on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed studying and has hung a towel on the bed above her to create some sort of privacy. \u201cThe student accommodation offered to internationals by the university was full in no time,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt was like ticket sales for a U2 concert.\u201d After that, she unsuccessfully checked on Facebook groups, but the prices were either too high or the contract was too long. After all, she\u2019s an exchange student and is only spending four months in Rotterdam. \u201cBefore I came to Stayokay, I slept in ROOM for a while, but from 1 October to January, I\u2019m going to be staying in three different Airbnbs. That\u2019s cheaper than hostel hopping.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the big windows in the high ceiling of the cube house, Bethiah and Emma\u2019s room is light and airy. There are two other permanent roommates, who Emma says are also EUR students. The other three beds are made and are rented to other guests. Last week they had two Italian girls in their room, who distributed the content of their suitcases all over the floor, making it almost impossible to reach their beds. \u201cAh well,\u201d sighs Emma. \u201cThat\u2019s the reality of hostels.\u201d Bethiah and Emma pay a reduced student price of 495 euros a month for their bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thief in the dormitory<\/h3>

At hostel de Mafkees, situated next to the old Hofpleinviaduct in Rotterdam North, students can rent a room for a month for half that price. Two Chinese women are sitting at a small table that serves as a reception desk, while in the adjoining central area a group of tourists are playing pool. At the side of the somewhat dark room, people are sitting at tables with their laptops.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mathilde Nadeau from France is doing the master in International Management at EUR and has been sleeping at hostel de Mafkees for six weeks. She\u2019s been trying to find a room for four months and spends at least an hour a day looking, but hasn\u2019t gotten any further than Airbnbs and hostels. \u201cThe situation in this hostel is dreadful. I share a dormitory with fifty other people and it\u2019s not safe at all. Some time ago a macbook left on a bed disappears and last night a man came in through an unprotected window and walked around the dorm trying to steal our stuff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mathilde Nadeau<\/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\tAnna Mazur<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

On their own<\/h3>

Mathilde says that in Paris, she had a room next to the Eiffel Tower for 400 euros a month. She looks agitated: \u201cThe university arranged it for us. Here international students are just left on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read everything about the current housing shortage in Rotterdam<\/h2>