Student Housing Challenge aims to provide long-term solutions for room shortages

Student Housing Challenge, organized by EnschedeLAB and Keeping Talent in Twente, is a walk-in event open to anyone interested in housing for international students in Twente. The idea to organize the Challenge came after the recent news about housing crisis among international students.

‘There are already a lot of stakeholders and initiatives trying to solve the urgent problem short-term, but we’d like to find long-term solutions to the housing problem,’ says Wiro Kuipers, the coordinator of EnschedeLAB. ‘We already know that the problem will be the same or even bigger next year. If we focus on solving the issue now, hopefully the UT won’t need to send out another email asking internationals not to come.’

‘I hope this event will change people’s stubbornness,’ says Nadhila Savira, one of the organizers from Keeping Talent in Twente. ‘The housing crisis is not a new issue. We knew this was going to happen. I’m happy that we are finally listened to and that there is such a huge movement around it. It should not die out until the problem is completely solved once and for all.’

Anyone can register to participate in the Student Housing Challenge and they are welcome to join for as long as they wish. ‘Feel free to just drop by for twenty minutes and inspire us,’ says Kuipers. ‘We hope to welcome anyone who can be part of the solution – the municipality, housing corporations, students, teachers. It would be awesome to include student houses as well. Because perhaps the solution doesn’t only lie in building new rooms, but also in better inclusion.’

The results of the Challenge will be shared with all participants and relevant stakeholders. ‘We might not end up with clear-cut solutions, but hopefully we will have better understanding of what the problem is and we work on the solution together,’ says Kuipers. ‘I believe that if we put together bright minds, we can solve any problem there is.’