The Academic Association of Coimbra (AAC) will advertise a camp near the Faculty of Arts from Monday to Tuesday evenings, demanding an increase in the supply of affordable housing for students.
The camp, which will take place between the Faculty of Arts and the General Library of the University of Coimbra, will start at 20:00 this Monday and end early on Tuesday morning. Its goal is to draw attention to the lack of quality housing at affordable prices. for the city’s student community, AAC President João Caseiro told Lusa.
“Despite some measures, such as increasing the surcharge for accommodation, prices [dos quartos] continue to increase. The biggest challenge at the moment is accommodation and we risk that in the short term, if prices continue to rise, there will be no accommodation for displaced students,” he said.
According to João Caseiro, “it is difficult to find rooms that cost less than 250 euros without spending”, and when they are found, they are rooms in houses with poor conditions or rented without a contract.
“There are cases where people who know each other live in shared studios, more students live in peripheral areas, or cases where they end up in more dangerous conditions,” AAC president Luse said.
According to the student leader, “prices have always gone up because there has been no regulation from the government,” given that the biggest beneficiaries of the increase in accommodation premiums end up being landlords who “keep increasing the price.”
In addition to regulating the rental market, João Caseiro believes that it would be important to increase the public supply of housing, whether through the state or local authorities, given that the National Plan for Housing in Higher Education Institutions has been a “failure.” “and the expected supply will not be enough.
From a student leader’s perspective, housing will currently be the “major barrier to higher education,” potentially increasing inequality and contributing to the elitization of this education.
The camp, organized by AAC, will also be an opportunity to “discuss and listen” to the problems each student faces, Joao Caseiro said.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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