700 more student rooms within a year

Within a year, 700 temporary student rooms must be added in Eindhoven. This is what the City Councillor for Housing, Yasin Torunoglu’s objective. He has received an urgent request from several Municipal parties.

GroenLinks, VVD, D66, CDA, ChristenUnie, and Denk think extra rooms should be added soon. There is a growing demand for affordable housing in the city among students and immigrant workers. However, status holders and singles are also looking for accommodation. The 700 extra rooms should cost a maximum of €450.

Stricter rules

On Tuesday evening, the City Council agreed on a 30-metre rule – new rental property cannot be subdivided within a radius of 30 metres of existing ones “This additional rule is fine. But countermeasures should be taken. The Municipality, educational institutions, housing corporations and landlords, therefore agreed that more affordable rooms should be created”, says Eva de Bruijn from GroenLinks.

Torunoglu intends to work on this goal. “In recent years, we have already created 1,500 extra student units, but only 300 units were added to the Berenkuil. I would like to hear from student organisations about their real needs.”

TU/e and Fontys need to do more

Both the City Council and the Councillor hope educational institutions will take more responsibility for this construction project. CDA councillor, Niels Groot, says: “Fontys and TU/e want to attract students. In that case, they also have to help to provide extra living space.” The parties believe Fontys and TU/e can build the rooms on their own campus. The Municipality and educational institutions are expected to meet at the beginning of next year.

Source: Studio040

Translator: Shufei

Editor: Melinda Walraven