National Student Union wants more students living above shops and cafés

Many landlords who used to rent their homes to students are now selling their properties due to higher taxes and stricter regulations. The Netherlands is currently 20,000 rooms short of meeting demand, and the shortage is set to increase further over the next few years.

The municipal council elections have just ended, and the parties are negotiating coalitions. As expected, the housing crisis is a key issue in these negotiations. The National Student Union (LSVb) has surveyed 15 university cities to support these efforts. “We’ve looked into everything and put it all together. All parties are welcome to make use of our research,” says LSVb chair Maaike Krom.

Overdoing it
According to LSVb, strict regulations are making it harder to increase the offer of student accommodation. “Some local authorities are overdoing the rules. As a result, those cities are not getting any new rooms,” says Krom. For instance, landlords cannot rent the rooms in a house to students without a licence.

The student union recommends relaxing several rules. For example, local authorities could make it easier to rent out living spaces above restaurants and shops to students. Families are less keen to live in such spaces anyway, so such a measure could prevent properties from standing empty.

In groups of three
In addition, LSVb is asking municipal authorities to make it easier for a small group of students to rent a house together. In cities such as Utrecht and Arnhem, the rules have already been amended to allow three students to live together without the landlord needing a licence, but in many other cities, this is permitted only for a maximum of two students.

The House of Representatives also sees opportunities to improve this and aims to investigate whether the rules adopted in Utrecht could be introduced nationwide. A motion on this subject tabled by D66 MP Robin van Leijen was unanimously adopted earlier this month.