Student Movement: Who must pay the extra rent?

We the students (residing in student dorms of Studierendenwerk Münster) were surprised when we received a notification letter from Studierendenwerk Münster in February and on short notice that they will increase the rent by more than 9% starting from April 2022.

We have found it unjustified because due to inflation, daily living expenses have been increased significantly – including energy costs (gas, oil, power), health insurance, and other necessary living costs. On the other hand, the minimum wages have been increased last year by approximately 2.29% only. Study shows that 90% of the international students in Germany have been financially affected by COVID 19 crisis. In that situation increasing rent by Studierendenwerk Muenster is not justified.

To react to this rental increase on the 3rd of March we the self-organized students and our supporters have gathered in a protest to oppose the rental increase in the student dorms by the Studierendenwerk Muenster. We were strongly demanding to stop the extra rental increase with some valid arguments. We projected the contradiction of the percentage of income and expenses.

While doing the protest, we had a debate and dialogue with one of the representatives Studierendenwerk Münster, where we clearly rejected the imposition of the rental increase. The representative of Studierendenwerk Münster stated to the student that, they want to support the cause of the rent issue but they can’t promise as Studierendenwerk is getting less financial support from the government, gas price increased, etc. The representative also mentioned to us that if we do not agree with this rent increase then we should leave the accommodation! We refused the unjustified arguments by the representative of the Studierendenwerk Münster, we remind him that as a human it is our right to choose where we will live, it is not the authority to decide. We recommended the representative discuss the cause with the responsible ministry for a solution.

The resolution of this petition is to support students and our justified demand to stop the rental increase in the student dorms of Studierendenwerk Münster.

To follow the resistance on our movement, the self organised student group organised a second demonstration on 10-th of March. The gathering was in front of the office of Studierendenwerk near Aasee where the students were sharing their experience of struggle with each other in public. The demand was the same, they strongly asked again from Studierendenwerk to cancel their decision on the rise price of the rent for the student dorms. The protest lasted around three hours where there were included speeches and clear message delivered to the respective instances but there was no response and a full disregard from Studierendenwerk to students.

After not receiving a positive response from Studierendenwerk, students had to pay the extra rent increased from April, 2022. The effect of this new rent was now very sensible for many students, affecting them directly and pushing them to find alternative ways to pay rent, like getting loans or cutting out other basic services. Being a difficult position economicaly, the group of students saw it as a nessecity to continiue the fight against Studierendenwerk on the increase of rent, to create some small relief on the very limited monthly income of students. On May, 31-st the self-organised student group organised a third demonstation following the first two ones on March with the demand of decreasing the rent of the dormitories. They, along with supporting groups, rallied from Ludgerikreise towards the Studierendenwerk office and protested there for some hours by giving speeches, chanting verses and asking question to the authority about the disregard they are showing to students during these times of crises for them. The protest continiued until the next morning as the students decided to camp overnight in front of the office of Studierendenwerk, as a symbol of the stuggle on affording the new rent. Again, the response was NULL. WHAT ELSE DO STUDENTS NEED TO DO?