Students delay renting a room nowadays, and they study for a shorter period of time. Waiting months or even years for a room is not an option for them. Still, many student housing corporations place them on long waiting lists before they are eligible for a room or residence.

Realtime

Student housing corporation SSH& wants to radically change that system. As of 1 July 2020, students who have registered (for free) can take part directly in a lottery system. Students can apply for one room of their choice each week. They will have ‘realtime insight’ into the number of responses, which gives them an idea of their chances.

Students who live far away still have travel priority. If you have to travel for more than two hours, you have exclusive access to rooms in the Vossenveld complex in Nijmegen. These students are also allowed to take part in the lottery for other rooms.

Not everyone will be pleased with the introduction of the lottery system. “That would be those students who don’t live in one of our accommodations yet, who have been on our waiting list for some time now, and who should be almost eligible for a room under the current system. They will lose their waiting time,” says Vincent Buitenhuis of SSH&. As a compensation, students who registered before 1 October 2015 get unlimited access to a lottery for rooms and residences.

Unique

A lottery system as such isn’t new, says Paul Tholenaars, director of Kences, the umbrella organization of student housing corporations. “Rental organizations look for the best housing allocation system in each individual case. Sometimes, they’ll decide to allocate rooms through a lottery for a specific housing complex.” However, the fact that a student housing corporation has decided to allocate all its rooms and residences through a lottery, is unique.

Tholenaars doesn’t think the lottery system will be implemented nationwide any time soon. “Each allocation system has its advantages and disadvantages. A lottery system gives students a chance, but if they still haven’t managed to find a room after some time, it remains unclear when they will.” A waiting list system may take a long time, but at least they know what to expect.

“We definitely need to remind ourselves that we’re dealing with a housing shortage. No matter how we decide to allocate rooms, it still doesn’t produce extra housing accommodations. A shortage is a shortage,” Tholenaars says.