- Student
- 11/09/2019
200 apartments for international TU/e students realized soon
The first 28 living units were placed on a site near the Berenkuil roundabout today, that will eventually accommodate a total of three hundred student apartments. By late October, the first international TU/e students can start moving in, and everything has to be finished by mid-December. The temporary apartments will be rented out by Vestide and can accommodate two hundred TU/e students in total.
There is a serious housing shortage in Eindhoven and student housing corporation Vestide, an arm of the Woonbedrijf housing corporation, knows this too. In an effort to somewhat alleviate this problem, Vestide will place three hundred temporary units on the former Slachthuisterrein located at the Celebeslaan, near the Berenkuil (a four-minute bike ride from TU/e).
The first 28 readymade units were placed today. Vestide will eventually place four blocks with four levels in total. The first block consists of 66 apartments and a large communal area. The other blocks consist of 78 units each.
Completion
The first students can start moving into their apartments in the first block on October 29. The other three blocks will open their doors on December 19. Stan van den Thillart, manager Vestide at Woonbedrijf, says that of the 300 units in total, 199 are intended for new international TU/e students, 99 for Fontys students, and 2 for students who serve as first points of contact for their fellow students. “TU/e will have a say in who gets to live in these apartments. In any case, the students need to be registered at TU/e.”
Not every apartment on the Berenkuil square has been allocated yet, says Jim Bergmans, education policy consultant at Education & Student Affairs at TU/e. International students who qualify for these apartments have received notification via ESA already. Bergmans: “Our International Office serves as mediator for student housing. We are very happy that we were able to get extra housing for our international students. Our waiting list has been reduced to zero now. We managed to temporarily accommodate thirty students in anticipation of these apartments via the couchsurfing project that we started earlier.”
“With these apartments, last summer’s emergency situation has been resolved,” Bergmans says. “We are currently discussing the situation for next year with the municipality, Vestide and other parties, because it will be necessary to build more accommodations. TU/e will continue to grow, and Fontys has also indicated that it expects a growth in student numbers. So, we have a challenge ahead of us in the coming period.”
How much does it cost?
A living unit is eighteen square meters large and is rented out fully furnished. The unit will have a bed, a desk, a kitchen and a small bathroom. The basic rent is four hundred euros per month, which is just under the rent allowance limit. An extra 218 euros for service charges will be added to this sum for tv and internet, water, furnishing, cleaning of communal areas, and the like.
Discussion