Student - January 20, 2010

Ceres is looking for student houses

The Wageningen student society Ceres wants to create new student accommodation in an attempt to tackle housing shortages. Its own members will get priority.

The housing committee, which Ceres set up two months ago to tackle the shortage of accommodation, has worked out a plan for creating new student houses in short order. The committee aims to make use of the so-called housing association structure. This is a structure whereby the bank stands surety for the building that has been purchased and the housing association manages the building. The building occupants choose three of their number to act as chairperson, secretary and treasurer, and these three manage all affairs concerning the house.
At the moment the housing committee is working on a 'test house' for six occupants. If this is a success, the committee members will try to start up more houses; these may eventually include houses for non-Ceres members. The existing Ceres houses will not come under this construction.
At the moment there are still a few problems with the plan. The bank has not yet agreed to the financial plan drawn up for the test house. Even so, the housing committee remains optimistic. When asked whether the plan is necessary, Stefan Talboom, the chair of the housing committee, replies: 'The forecasts show student numbers are set to rise. Idealis may be building new accommodation, but that is probably not enough to house all the new students. That seems like a good reason for us to carry on.' 
 

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