Last week, STIP and the ChristenUnie, among others, submitted a motion to build more student houses. This was adopted unanimously! Why this motion? At the moment, only studios are being built. The reason? It is unattractive for developers to build student houses. With this motion STIP makes living together a priority again!
Unattractive for developers
You must be wondering: Why is it so attractive for developers to build studios? STIP wondered the same thing. In short: national regulations throw a spanner in the works for student houses. Two things are the main culprit here. Firstly, a developer of student housing, such as DUWO in Delft, can only receive rent allowance when building studios. Secondly, the so-called Woning Waardering Stelsel undervalues non-self-contained accommodations. The system allocates studios more points, as a result of which the maximum requested rent is much higher. The lack of income from rent allowance in combination with a lower maximum rent makes it unwise for developers to build student houses. STIP wants the government to correct the structural undervaluation of cohabitation as soon as possible. Living together really stimulates people to meet each other and really fights loneliness!
Real living rooms for non-self-contained student rooms
Ultimately, the motion by STIP instructed the board to do three things. Firstly, STIP is sending the Alderman to the Minister to better value cohabitation. Secondly, it remains essential to continue discussions with the housing corporations. STIP believes that the social benefits of living together should be constantly emphasised. Finally, we want people to really live together. STIP noticed that housing corporation DUWO is developing a new concept: the STING concept.
Found a solution?
The STING concept is a combination of one common room and several studios. STIP concludes from this that DUWO is doing its best to make the construction of 'non-self-contained units' attractive. However, this concept should not turn out to be a disguised form of building studios. STIP asked the alderman to take away this concern. During the committee meeting, we were promised that DUWO would be asked to send the council the final details of the STING concept. On top of that, in the motion adopted, STIP has included that a student house is only considered a student house if there is at least one shared living room and/or kitchen. This means that a form of studio with only a shared laundry room may never be counted as a student house.
Now really get to work
The unanimously adopted motion and the Councilor's pledge take away some of our concerns. However, only building studios is still planned. STIP's call is therefore: Build student houses to really live together! In the performance agreements it is fortunately already included that DUWO will use a 50/50 ratio between studio and living together. Now these ambitions still need to be converted into concrete building plans. STIP wants us to really get to work now! Enthusiastic about our efforts? Or would you like to know what else STIP can do for you? Get in touch with Daylam Dag.
