Give lonely students a common room, city council says
City council: Give lonely students a common room
Door Koen Marée
By Koen Marée
It wants the municipality to build more housing that includes a common room, rather than just single-person studio apartments.
Marten Duit, faction chair for Student en Stad, says young people are increasingly suffering from loneliness and that a common meeting room could help fight this: ‘If you give students all their own room, they’ll have fewer social contacts and they’re more likely to feel lonely.
Internationals
The city’s focus on building studio apartments over the past few years is also said to be detrimental to the integration of international students. Earlier this week, the Groninger Studentenbond published a study that showed that Dutch and international students tend to live in separate bubbles.
They feel the city should combat this by talking to developers and housing corporations about creating living spaces where international and Dutch students live together.
Short stay
The city is also taking a stance against short-stay contracts. In the future, these controversial contracts, which are only valid for a limited time and don’t provide rent protection, will not be allowed to cover a period of more than four months.
The Groningen city council does want the option of making an exception for corporations like SSH. In order to prevent this exception being used too much, the city council will have to be informed about every instance it’s being used.