Housing
Studentenwerke demand more affordable student accommodation
Studentenwerke demand a 1.45 million € subsidy from the Government for construction and renovation of student residence halls.
The 58 Studentenwerke and Studierendenwerke that form Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW - German National Association for Student Affairs) appeal to the German Government for construction and renovation of student residence halls. They want the housing conditions to be improved with the help of a joint social pact or with social housing subsidies.
Procurement processes should be streamlined, local authorities as well as the Institute for Federal Real Estate (Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben) should provide free property for Studentenwerke – that is what the 150 delegates of the Studentenwerke and Studierendenwerke request. They met on the DSW members’ meeting on 4 and 5 December 2018 in Berlin.
The DSW General Secretary Achim Meyer auf der Heyde explains: “The housing markets in many university cities are overheated; students can hardly find affordable accommodation. Even though the Studentenwerke throughout Germany build quite a lot of residence halls and are supported with fund programs by some federal states such as Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Bremen or Thüringen – there is still more to be done. The Federal Government and the individual German states together are appealed to.
According to its coalition contract the Federal Government is obligated to help create more student accommodation. The funds from the Government have to be granted via the social housing subsidies. The amendment of the constitution that would be necessary is currently being assessed in parliamentary procedures; the Bundestag has already agreed – hopefully the Bundesrat will do the same. A Germany-wide housing subsidy program could be included in the Government budget of 2020.
The Federal subsidy program should be granted on top of the individual funds from the federal states – they may not substitute the state subsidy programs."
More about the DSW members‘ meeting:
www.studentenwerke.de/de/content/hochschulsozialpakt-zur-sozialen-4
Campaign „Kopf braucht Dach – Head needs roof“ launched by the Studentenwerke and Studierendenwerke for more affordable student accommodation: