One room, two students, three months… but what now?
One room for two international students. That has been the reality in recent months in the Proxima building on Zernike. As per agreement, one of the two roommates had to leave by the end of November.
First-year International Business Adrian (18) has to wait another month before he can move into his new studio in The Village, the student accommodation on Peizerweg. ‘I can live with two friends for a fortnight and then I will go home for Christmas’, he says. Adrian, who is from Moldova, is happy with the new accommodation, as he could no longer stay in the Proxima building on Zernike Campus where he lived for the first few months. ‘Fortunately, at the last minute I was able to find something else and I have a solution for what to do in the meantime.’ For a friend of his, it was slightly more difficult. ‘He has to stay in a hostel for a few nights because he can’t move into his new studio yet.’
The 130 students still living in Proxima at the beginning of November had another month to leave
International students who did not have a place to live at the beginning of the academic year could temporarily move in with another tenant of Proxima, the student housing complex on the Zernike Campus. As a result, the number of students living in the Proxima complex doubled, from 401 residents to 802.
In the Netherlands, it is unusual to house two students in one room. In Groningen, they did decide to do so, but only for a short period of time at the beginning of the academic year, when the room shortage is highest. Before 29 November, the 130 students still living in the complex at the beginning of November had to find a new place to live. At least 14 of them were still living in Proxima days before 29 November, says owner SSH. It is unclear whether those 14 remaining students have found housing by now.
‘The time to go and find a room is July and August, but I wasn’t in the Netherlands then’
It is difficult to find a room in Groningen. Valeria (25) from Peru noticed this when she arrived in the Netherlands at the end of the summer for the master’s programme Small Business and Entrepreneurship. ‘It is very frustrating. The time to go and find a room is July and August. But I wasn’t in the Netherlands then.’ Most international students only travel to Groningen just before the academic year starts, which is why they often miss out, according to Valeria. Proxima was a good solution for her. But she had to leave Proxima on November 29. Just before that deadline, she found a studio close to the city centre. ‘It’s easier to search now than in August,’ she says.
Matthew (29) is still living in Proxima. For the past few months, he shared his room with another student, who left in November. ‘I had applied back in May, I think that helped me to become the main tenant of my room. You have to get there in time,’ he says. ‘I do hope the municipality will build more for students. It is clearly needed.’
‘The housing shortage among students and young people is acute,’ councillor Rik van Niejenhuis (PvdA, housing) acknowledges. That is why, he says, there are many plans to create more housing, on Zernike campus and elsewhere in Groningen, such as in the Van Heemskerckflat. Van Niejenhuis wants the first additional housing on campus to be available in 2027 and 2028. If it is up to the municipality, there will be a total of 1,500 student rooms on Zernike by 2030.
Photo: Tabata Vilches Maldonado