To be honest, student housing was not our main focus at the beginning. In Berlin, unlike many cities, there is not a separate student housing market; most students live in shared flats, normal rented accommodation or with their parents. So we saw it as just one aspect of the wider housing crisis.
But through the project our perspective changed significantly. Precisely because students are integrated into the general housing market, they are especially vulnerable: low incomes, little planning security, and poor chances in overheated markets. In large cities with high rents, their needs are often overlooked.
Housing and studying are closely linked. If you cannot afford to live near a university, you are unlikely to study there – which deepens existing educational inequalities. Prestigious universities risk becoming exclusive spaces.
We also saw that student housing has become a field of speculative investment, especially in cities like Milan or increasingly Berlin, with “serviced student apartments” promising lifestyle and high returns. These are expensive, often fall outside regulation, and illustrate how market-driven and financialised housing systems fail many people.
So student housing is not a side issue; it is central to social justice in higher education. And formats where students work on this topic at a European level make sense if we want them to shape their own future.
