SSH residents get their own tenants’ association
SSH residents get their own tenants’ association
Door Koen Marée
By Koen Marée
ISHA plans to meet at least once a month to discuss how everything is going at SSH. They won’t just be a hotline for complaints: they want to be involved in policy.
‘After the debate in the city council we’ve decided to itemise the rent we charge our tenants’, says Jolien Stokroos with SSH. ‘ISHA can hold us accountable: are we being fair or unfair, what should we do better?’
Topics
Other topics of discussion will be the policy for fines for noise complaints, communication with tenants, and how the SSH properties should look a little cheerier.
ISHA is an initiative of the Groninger Studentenbond and ESN. The Utrecht branch of SSH already had a tenants’ association, as did Groningen housing corporation Lefier. Yael Steenman, ESN secretary, says ISHA will be able to help a lot. ‘Students enjoy their living situation more if they know what their rent consists of.’
The GSb and ESN will both be part of ISHA, as will three residents from SSH buildings at the Kornoeljestraat, Winschoterdiep, and the Upsilon flat in Paddepoel. They’ll be informed about vacant positions at the start of the academic year.
Corona
Approximately 60 percent of tenants left their SSH residence early over the past few months. The educational institutes and SSH allowed students to return to their own country or family, even though the UG and Hanze University end up paying for vacant rooms.
‘We’ll be making an invoice soon. It will probably be a considerable amount’, says Stokroos. ‘We’ll be taking on part of the financial responsibility at SSH. We can’t really say how yet. We’ve been having the same issues in other student-heavy cities.’