Student in housing crisis: “I barely found a room”
The housing crisis remains acute, especially among students and young people. That is why the Amsterdam Student Union (Asva), among others, is organizing the Housing Summit on May 15 in Pakhuis de Zwijger where young people can learn about their rental rights.
“I crawled through the eye of the needle,” Turkish student Kerem Aktolug (19, sociology) tells us. He moved to the Netherlands in 2021 to study sociology at the UvA. “The university offered temporary student housing for first-year international students. I applied for it. At 7:30 a.m., I was sitting in front of my laptop - the UvA operated a first-come-first-serve system so you had to get there early. I remember that shortly after 8:00 a.m., the website crashed, which caused stress. When everything worked again, I happened to be around spot 1,000 to 1,500. The first 3,000 students got a room, so I was just barely made it in.”
Kerem, now a second-year student, lived in a studio apartment near the Vondelpark during his first year of study. He had a good time there; it was "a soft landing. The building was new, and by my estimation it was mostly first-year students living there. It was nice to meet people outside my studies. And I didn't pay very much. With rent allowance, I was spending between €400 and €450 a month.”
Nearly €1,000 in rent
As quickly as the year in his fine studio began, it was over. Fortunately, he stumbled upon studio housing at Minervahaven fairly quickly. The only thing was that his rent became more than doubled - he paid €999 a month for 21 square meters. And: he again only had an annual contract here. At the end of this academic year, so in the summer of 2023, he would have to move out.
Kerem started looking early for housing after the summer, since he knew how severe the housing shortage was in Amsterdam. “Last spring, I spent weeks scrolling through websites such as Funda, Pararius and Kamernet in hopes of finding a place to live beginning in the third year of my studies. I was spending about five to six hours a week looking. I got up with it and went to bed with it. I could have put the time I spent on it into my studies. Besides, I got incredibly stressed by reloading the websites every time,” Kerem says.
“I didn't know at all how bad the housing crisis in Amsterdam and the surrounding area was before I moved here. I didn't know until I was actually here and heard stories from fellow students. Because the more you hear from students struggling to find housing, the more you think about it, and the more you stress about it.”
Tenant rights
Bor van Zeeland, board member of student housing at the Amsterdam Student Union (Asva), hears stories like this often. “Student housing concerns all students. You only have to walk around the campuses and talk to students, and you immediately hear stories about housing that is too expensive, for example.”
That is why Asva, together with SVA, foundation !Woon, FNV Young & United and Pakhuis de Zwijger is organizing “the Housing Summit.” It is an event about housing, for and by young people. Van Zeeland says: “Housing concerns everyone. There is currently a major housing crisis - for students, for example, there is a shortage of 6,000 rooms in Amsterdam, and that is only increasing. But there is little knowledge on the technical side. Young people often don't know what their tenant rights are.”
“Because of the huge housing crisis, tenants are in a weak position. Because demand for housing is so high, people are often happy when they finally have a home. As a result, they often don't dare to go against their landlord. During the Woontop, we will also inform students about their tenant rights. For example: you can get a rent reduction if your landlord does nothing about mold in the house. And on Monday we're also going to look at rental contracts of young people who are interested to see whether there are any clauses in them that are illegal.”
Yikes
The Housing Summit is not just for students, but for all young people. Because if you rent in the social rental sector for students, like at Duwo or Lieven de Key, you have to move out six months after graduation. Master's student in Journalism & Media Ruben den Harder (23) now lives in such a student residence, but must leave there in a year at the latest.
“I am already looking at new housing out of the corner of my eye,” Ruben says. He responds weekly on Woningnet to save up points, because the more often you respond to social housing, the higher you get on the waiting lists. But even then, the waiting lists are very long and you have to be lucky, Ruben observes.
That is why he also looks at the private sector, where it is also "very difficult" for first-time buyers to find housing. “For example, I'm in Facebook groups, where I mostly see houses coming along that are really looking for students. Once a month I see a house come along that I like, but that's not very much. Then I think, ‘yikes!’ It will be hard to find housing after my studies. After all, I would like to live with roommates.” Van Zeeland also sees this reflected. “Living with roommates is quite difficult in Amsterdam these days - since 2020 there have been strict rules on housing sharing.”
Southeast
Van Zeeland further adds that he sees that international students in particular, like Kerem, have trouble finding housing. “They still barely have a network in Amsterdam. And you see that there is a lot of discrimination in the housing market, that houses have in their ad: No international students.”
For Kerem, the solution eventually came. After weeks of searching for a room, he found a home: a studio apartment in Amsterdam Southeast, where he will move in June. There he will pay more than a €100 less per month in rent, €850. And he may - how luxurious - stay there until the end of his studies.
The Woontop takes place on Monday, May 15, and begins at 6:30 p.m. in Pakhuis de Zwijger. Admission is free.
