Last year we witnessed the housing crisis first-hand: many students either faced the impossible task of finding an apartment upon arrival to the city, or showed solidarity by hosting a student hunting for a place to stay. Over the past year, we have followed with great worry how little initiative the University has taken in order to fix the problem, best summarized as:  too many students in a city with too few houses to offer. As a precautionary move, and inspired by the initiative taken by many students last year, we have decided to take upon ourselves to connect those people with a spare couch/mattress, willing to host a student for a number of days, with those who are desperately in need of a temporary house. We do not want to see people sleeping in tents or overpriced hostels for a second year in a row - this is why we should mobilize and help a fellow student out!
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The idea is simple: all you have to do is fill in your details below! These details will be combined into a data base, which we will use to connect you with a student in need of a temporary housing solution. Prior to giving your details to anybody, we will contact you personally to confirm that you are still able to host. You will then receive the contact details of the person looking for a place to stay with whom you will agree on the details. You may draw back your consent for us to contact you any time by sending us an e-mail. We will then remove you from the data base. We will make sure to respect any special conditions, if you lay down such in the last question of the form.
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The more volunteers we are able to gather, the less the new students have to worry about being homeless while starting their study. Therefore, help a fellow student out by not only filling in this form, but by sharing it with your friends as well! Every new volunteering host will lessen the responsibility carried by others and will help us create a warmer welcome for the arriving students.
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The data base that we will create serves the purpose of connecting temporary housing hosts with seekers in the city of Groningen. Filling in this form does not form a binding consent, and the information you provide will remain within the organisers (Democratische Academie Groningen) only for the purpose of this initiative, and will not be used for any sort of other purposes.

 If you have any questions you can contact us via e-mail: houses4students.dag@gmail.com