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Amsterdam is the largest student city in the Netherlands with over 100,000 students. More and more (international) students choose to study in Amsterdam: ASVA thinks this is something to be proud of. However, Amsterdam is also the city with the largest room shortage in the Netherlands. Nowhere else in the Netherlands do students have such a hard time finding housing. Especially if you have no existing network or previous registering time, it can be especially hard to find suitable accommodation. First, housing is very hard to find: waiting times on official sites can go up to 3 to 5 years. On unofficial sites, the demand is incredibly high: up to 50 to 150 people can respond to a room on Facebook for example. Second, rooms are very expensive: on average, students in Amsterdam spend 51% of their income on rent. Prices up to a 1000 euros per month are no exception. Despite the high prices, rooms are often in a bad state, or of low quality. More than half of the students in Amsterdam want to move because their rooms get too hot in summer or because safety is an issue. Like safety on the Spinozacampus or fire at the Krelis Louwesweg. Furthermore, tenancy rights are often not respected. For more information: see here. 

 

ASVA’s role

For years, ASVA has been trying to reduce the shortage in cooperation with the city council, housing corporations and educational institutions. This has led to a lot of attention for student housing and a number of successes. Every year, for example, some 1,000 new rooms are built. In addition, the work is becoming more innovative. For example, there are more and more projects where Dutch students and young people live together with status holders.

To really improve the situation for students, a lot needs to be done in the coming years. The municipality has set itself the goal of expanding the housing stock for young people and students by 10,500 units in the period 2019-2022. Part of this, however, will be built in suburban areas such as Haarlem and Almere. The Amsterdam production will be divided between young people and students.

In addition, it is important that new homes are also affordable. Affordable for everyone, including new students who do not receive a student grant or a contribution from their parents. In order to achieve this, ASVA has made firm agreements with the municipality and housing corporations about the rent prices of new houses to be built. Read more about the covenant on student housing that ASVA has concluded with the municipality, housing corporations and educational institutions. We have a strong position, as we have a strong network and a large knowledge base. We have for example conducted research into the experience of cameras on the Spinozacampus and at other buildings, and therefore also fight for good quality housing.

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