The four hundred student rooms on the Zernike campus that were supposed to house new students in September of next year, will not be finished any time soon.
According to Hans Biemans with the UG board of directors, they did everything they could to build the complex, but housing company SSH ran into issues with its contractor. ‘They told us last week.’ It’s unclear what these issues are exactly.
Early last month, the city announced the imminent arrival of the four hundred rooms. The rooms will be able to house two students during the peak time at the start of the academic year, meaning there will be room for eight hundred students in total.
Homeless
According to Biemans, they’re working on a ‘plan B’ to prevent students from becoming homeless. ‘We’re working together with the city and housing corporation to get this done. One thing we’re doing is continuing with HospiHousing.’
HospiHousing is a company that matches Groningen residents with a free bedroom to students looking for a place to live. The city allowed an experiment with this type of renting this year.
Two per room
‘We’ve also asked renters if they think they’d be able to house two students per room’, said Biemans.
‘We did that last year in several complexes, and it went well. Renters had a positive experience and international students are fine with it, since it’s fairly standard in Anglo-Saxon countries to share a room.’
Biemans emphasised that ‘plan B’ is not a permanent solution to the room shortage. ‘We’re essentially upgrading the plan we set in motion last year. We heard the news about the rooms last Friday and we mainly want to prevent what happened the past couple of years.’