© dpa
More apartments and rooms for students are being built in Berlin: The state-owned company Berlinovo plans to complete 700 places by the end of the year.
Another 3550 places are to follow in the next three years, spokesman Ulrich Kaliner told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
The Studierendenwerk also wants to expand its stock: "A construction project on Aristotelessteig with 176 new units is planned and ready, but we lack the funds to go into implementation," said spokeswoman Jana Judisch. According to current forecasts, the construction would cost 23 million euros. In order to be able to keep the rents appropriate for students, a building cost subsidy of at least nine million euros would be necessary. Now the Studierendenwerk hopes to benefit from the federal government's "Young Living" housing subsidy program, Judisch said.
The Studierendenwerk has a total of 9200 living spaces for students, none of which are currently vacant. "Vacancies exist only because of ongoing renovation work," the spokeswoman said. There are currently 4763 applicants on the waiting list. About 80 percent of the places are used by students from abroad.
Berlinovo has already created student housing in recent years; according to the spokesman, around 2550 dormitory places have been built. In total, the company wants to build 6800 places. Student housing has its price: in the Dauerwaldweg student dorm in Westend, for example, a furnished single rooms of 10 to 25 square meters costs between 347 and 422 euros per month in rent. "Between two and 14 residents live together and share the communal kitchen and bathroom/WC," the description of the dormitory says.
Berlinovo's new apartment building on Siemensstraße in Oberschöneweide offers single and multi-person apartments from 10 to 30 square meters with private kitchens and bathrooms. The rent per room is between 420 and 550 euros. In Berlin, only about five percent of students currently live in a student dormitory, which is significantly less than the national average of ten percent. The quota refers to the years 2018 to 2020. Around 200,000 students are currently enrolled at Berlin universities.