A few weeks before the start of the school year, students are having difficulty finding accommodation in good condition, and especially within their budget. As in the traditional rental sector, rents are rising. In question, in particular: the increasingly high charges with the rise in energy prices. For their part, student representatives denounce a lack of public accommodation, which is generally less expensive than private accommodation.
We meet Gehan in a cafe in Brussels. Like every day, she scans the classifieds on the internet. After four months of research and numerous visits, the law student has still not been able to find accommodation. Rents in Brussels are significantly higher than his budget. She shows us an ad on her computer. “There, by example, it’s in the studio, and there it’s 810€. There, they include the charges in it, but €810 for a 30 m² studio…“, she confides to us, disappointed. The student shows us another ad: “A bedroom in a six-person apartment. The size of the room, there is enough to put a bed. For a price of 600€. To just put your bed in fact!“.
A shortage of affordable and quality kots
According to the Federation of Francophone Students (FEF), Gehan is far from being the only one in this case. “For many years there has been a shortage of quality and affordable kots. This year, with the increase in the price of charges, students find themselves with a much higher bill. It’s more than 100€ per month for students, which becomes very complicated for them to be able to follow“, explains Emila Hoxhaj, president of the FEF.
From €480 charges included to €500 excluding charges
In Brussels in 2021, students paid an average of €480 per month, charges included. Today, they pay up to €500. To this price, we must still add the charges, which have increased considerably with the surge in energy prices.
The Federation calls on the authorities. “We are therefore asking politicians to be able to refinance higher education to allow establishments to invest in public accommodation at affordable prices, to allow the most precarious students to have access to housing.“, reacted Emila Hoxhaj.
Public housing is studios or flatshares offered by universities. Problem: there are too few, which forces many students to turn to the private market and its less democratic prices.
For the Minister of Education, Valérie Glatigny, the management of this problem belongs to the universities “For university accommodation, it depends on the establishments which are financed globally by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation“, she reacts in writing.
The Minister reminds us: there is aid for students in difficulty. In the meantime, Gehan continues his research and hopes to find a kot less than a month from the resumption of classes.
