Emergency situations
Many first-year students have difficulties finding affordable accommodation at the beginning of the semester. When the halls of residence are already full, the Studierendenwerke help students with housing services, rooms wanted/offered adverts and flatshares, last-minute rooms and emergency accommodation.
In addition, many Studierendenwerke initiate marketing campaigns with universities and towns/cities in order to encourage private landlords to let rooms to students. Adverts are placed on trams, on bakery bread bags and in the press, for example.
The Deutsches Studierendenwerk campaigns against the housing shortage at a structural level in order to prevent an emergency situation happening every winter semester. We are calling on Germany’s government and federal states to provide funding for social infrastructure measures at higher education institutions as part of the Higher Education Pact.
Despite numerous new buildings at the Studierendenwerke - more than 18,000 dormitory places are under construction or planned nationwide - the supply rate of affordable, state-subsidised housing in relation to the number of students is lower than ever. The ratio has fallen continuously since 2008, while the number of students served by the Studierendenwerke has risen by around 600,000.
