The municipality of Nijmegen is going to have a conversation with educational institutions and student housing provider SSH& about implementing a hotline for discrimination on the student housing market.

‘No internationals’, ‘Dutch only’. Students searching for a room in Nijmegen by using rental websites such as Kamernet and social media are no stranger to these kinds of messages. Landlords as well as residents looking for a new roommate are guilty of these sorts of exclusions.

It makes it extra hard for international students to find a room on an already extremely scarce market. On top of that, many international students have to deal with problems surrounding student housing provider SSH&’s short stay contracts: those can not be terminated while the contract is ongoing, which means many international students are searching for a room simultaneously. Last Summer, this led to students sleeping in hotels or couch surfing.

Not clear enough

There are plenty of signals of discrimination on the student housing market. Still, for the municipal board it is not clear enough how widespread the issue is, says Jan Wijnia, councillor for housing, via his spokesperson.

‘We all disapprove of this and want to tackle the issue’

To get some insight, the municipal board has promised to look into the possibilities of a hotline. The board is in talks about this with Radboud University, the HAN, and student housing provider SSH&. ‘We all disapprove of this and want to tackle the issue’, says the spokesperson.

The hotline can help, but there are other options still on the table. Further research, extra education, and sanctions for example. ‘Currently we are working on these options together.’

Municipal council

The councillor made his promises about the hotline after questions were asked by the PvdA and Partij voor de Dieren (Dutch political parties). Member of the PvdA Mika Kraft – who is also a student at Radboud University – is happy that the councillor takes the issue seriously: a hotline is much needed, he thinks.

Kraft wants to use the hotline to gain insight into the size of the problem as well. Furthermore, he thinks it is important that students who deal with discrimination know where they can get help. That should be the hotline.

‘The university is becoming more international, student houses should follow’

At the same time, he also sees how hard it is to tackle the issue. Because: when is there discrimination? It is often a grey area. Because of a language barrier, for example, students might be hesitant to pick out a non-Dutch speaking roommate.

‘That is why we should focus on a culture change and raising awareness,’ says Kraft. Apparently the traditional student life in Nijmegen is not open enough to international students, he concludes. ‘And that while diversity is an enrichment. The university is becoming more international, eventually student houses will have to follow.’