Almost all Dutch student cities currently have a room shortage. The National Student Union (LSVb) noticed that last year no less than forty thousand students could not find a place to live and still live at home. With such high demand and low supply, prices also go up.

Students experience difficulties finding a room, especially in the big cities, and the average price has now risen to over 400 euros, De Volkskrant, a Dutch national newspaper, wrote two weeks ago in response to a study by Kamernet.nl. Many rooms have been added over the years, but that is still not enough given the strong increase in the amount of international students over the same period. "We have underestimated a bit how big the growth in the number of international students would be, I think", Ardin Mourik of Kenniscentrum Studentenhuisvesting recently confessed.

Both national and international students now face this problem, but for international students it is even more difficult to find a room due to the large number of advertisements with #dutchonly. It is not necessarily about descent but more about the language. The ability to speak Dutch is a primary condition to qualify for the offered room.

Traditions

On October 1st 2017, the TU/e alone already had 1510 international students and they all need a room. Of course they cannot continue to live with their parents and at the same time study here, like some Dutch students do. The international student association of the TU/e, Cosmos, is also familiar with the phenomenon of #dutchonly. Gergő Sütő, member of the board of Cosmos, says in a comment: "After I have spoken with both Dutch and international students about the topic #dutchonly, I have come to the conclusion that, generally speaking, houses with only Dutch students value their traditions more than mixed houses. In addition, the majority of Dutch students prefer not to speak English in their personal environment/time. International students have a different way of socializing and divide their time between different groups of friends, which makes their home community less cohesive."

Sütő understands that it is important to belong to a community, both for Dutch and international students, but he also stresses another important point: "I don’t think that international students are stressed because they cannot get a room in a Dutch student house. They are stressed to get a room at all because of the large room shortage currently. If the municipality could solve that problem with enough available rooms for all students, this would have never been such a headed discussion."

In the Eindhoven Facebook group for student housing you can also find posts where #dutchonly is discussed. Some Dutch students indicate that they simply want to be able to speak Dutch with their housemates. Despite the fact that many Dutch people speak excellent English, that does not mean that they still want to do this after working hours. In addition, some comment that landlords require Dutch speaking candidates for their rooms.

Read more after the frame.