Housing shortage & Colombia: the story behind Hospi Housing
Finally a solution for the housing shortage in the Netherlands. Hospi Housing helps students find a room with a host or guest family!
The summer of 2016 comes to an end and the new academic year has just begun. For many students this is bad news. Due to the major housing shortage in the Netherlands, even after months of searching they still haven't found a room. In this same period, an urgent email from his lecturer gets Daan, also a student, thinking. A year later, during an exchange to Colombia, it all comes together and the idea behind Hospi Housing is born.
Housing shortage in Utrecht
It's late summer 2016 when Daan - later one of the founders of Hospi Housing - receives an email from his lecturer at the International Relations masters program in Utrecht. Three British students, despite months of searching and sending out over 100 messages, still haven't found a room.
As a temporary solution, they are staying in a hotel, but time is running out. If they can't find a room soon, it will become too expensive and they will have to return home before they even started their studies.
After checking with Utrecht University, Daan learns that every year dozens of students quit their studies prematurely because they can't find accommodation. This applies to both international and Dutch students for whom commuting daily between home and university is not an option.
In 2017, the Netherlands faced a shortage of 40,000 student rooms. Meanwhile the number of students has been increasing for years and continues to do so, and the housing shortage is not expected to be solved anytime soon. We cannot continue like this right? Are there really no more available rooms in a city with so many big houses?
Daan goes on exchange to Colombia
It keeps Daan awake for a few nights, but he takes no action. Studies and social life demand his full attention. Until the end of 2016, when he leaves for Colombia for a 7-month exchange. He is going to do an internship at PAX and conduct research on the peace process with the FARC.
Through his internship, he ends up staying with Ana Lucia, who has a room available in her apartment in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. A private bedroom and bathroom, with a shared kitchen and living room. For about €300 euros in rent per month, Daan thinks it's a great deal. And it turns out to be even better.
Ana Lucia: the 'first' host
'During my research into the peace process with the FARC, I am staying at the house of Ana Lucía, a single woman in her early sixties, who recdently retired after a turbulent career and is now engaged in charity work, theater visits, and her own business.
She is content the way things are. She has left behind three intense decades working in the top of Colombian politics, but - despite my curiosity - rarely wants to talk about it. Instead she prefers to show me the city, proudly tells her friends about her latest gain: me, and corrects me while laughing out loud when my broken Spanish leads to hilarious mispronunciations.'
Pilot homestay as solution to the housing shortage in Utrecht
Hospi Housing started as a wild and idealistic idea. In the summer of 2018, the first step was taken and the three founders of what would later become Hospi Housing came together for the first time. In April 2019, the Chamber of Commerce registration was done and Hospi Housing was officially born.
Making better use of existing housing by connecting people from all over the world. That's our mission. Bringing together people with different backgrounds, from different generations and each with their own, unique story.
In the summer of 2019, in collaboration with the municipality of Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, HKU, and housing corporation SSH, the first pilot was run in Utrecht. And with success: homestay as a solution to the housing shortage proved to work.
Since then, we have grown rapidly and are now active throughout the Netherlands. We actively collaborate with municipalities, educational institutions and housing corporations to help as many people as possible. We help hosts and host families with temporary room rental and finding suitable tenants, and students and young people with finding affordable housing.
Hospi Housing has already come a long way from an idea to a social enterprise. But we are far from done. Homestay can become thé solution to the housing crisis in the Netherlands. And do to so: we need everyone's help.
Interested in temporarily renting a room in your home? Discover what benefits homestay can bring to you and let us help you for free.
Do you believe in our mission and company and want to collaborate? We are always looking for partners and would love to connect!