The housing working group is committed to ensuring that there is sufficient and affordable housing for students in Arnhem and Nijmegen. We try to achieve this by talking to relevant parties such as the SSH&, Huurteams Nijmegen and the municipalities of Arnhem and Nijmegen. We also keep our OKiN “Op Kamers in Nijmegen” booklet up to date, which contains almost all relevant information about finding and renting a room!

Vision

The shortage of rooms for students needs to be addressed
The vision of AKKU is that there should be enough affordable rooms for students in Nijmegen and Arnhem. The preference is always for a surplus as opposed to a shortage, as this brings lower prices and more security. To reduce the current shortage in Nijmegen, we as a working group believe that there is only one serious solution: additional construction. This could include student housing, but also social rent for starters to encourage people to move on.

Support for tenants
It is also important to emphasize that students that are searching on the private market face many cases of abuse, such as excessive rents. Here support should be offered from the municipality, for example by supporting Stichting Huurteams Nijmegen or the OKiN.

Successes

In the past, the housing working group has had several successes.

Fire safety film
On January 1, 2014, a fire broke out in a student complex on the corner of Groesbeekseweg and Heyendaalseweg in Nijmegen. To everyone’s relief, there were no victims, but this fire did show that houses that are not fireproof include a high risk. Student union AKKU and the Safety Region Gelderland-Zuid together made a short film about this fire, where we try to make clear the importance of fire safety in buildings.

More housing realized
With the current and future student numbers at the RU and HAN, it is badly needed that there is sufficient housing for the Arnhem and Nijmegen students. Partly due to the lobbying of AKKU, several projects were started in the past to realize more housing, and we continue to lobby to get more housing built.

OKiN

Contact details
Interested in learning more? Or would you like to join the housing working group? Then send us a message at: huisvesting@team.akku.nu