New hall of residence on Wolfhager Strasse

"This renovation was a real tour de force," confirmed Christa Ambrosius, Managing Director of the Kassel Student Union. The first tenders were issued back in 2019 - then came the pandemic, the energy crisis, inflation and finally the blatant shortage of staff at specialist companies. Instead of the initially targeted construction costs of 2.2 million euros, the costs now amount to 5 million euros - 125,000 euros per student residence.

Hesse's Economics Minister Kaweh Mansoori and Science Minister Timon Gremmels attended the opening to see for themselves how halls of residence are built in times of crisis. "We should not allow young people to make their decision to study or undergo professional training dependent on housing. That is why we are happy to support important construction projects that provide affordable housing for our skilled workers and employees of tomorrow," said Mansoori.

"Affordable and needs-based housing for students is a key prerequisite for successful studies. Projects such as the Wolfhager Straße 10 building promote equal opportunities and help to keep Hessen attractive as a university location. The Studierendenwerke are important partners on this path: together we are continuing to work on creating living space for students," said Minister of Science Timon Gremmels.

Managing Director Ambrosius was also pleased that the ensemble of three halls of residence, Wolfhager Straße 10, had been completed: A total of 138 students will now find their temporary home close to the university here. As in all of the Studierendenwerk's halls of residence, a good half of them come from abroad.

Prof. Dr. Ute Clement, President of the University of Kassel, confirmed the importance of affordable housing for the attractiveness of an international university location. Cost of living, says Clement, can be the deciding factor when choosing a university. "These 40 new places in halls of residence are good news for the university. Halls of residence are a cost-effective option that many students rely on. They also have a social function, as new students in particular can easily find fellow students here."

CEO Matthias Anbuhl attended the opening on behalf of Deutsches Studierendenwerk, which brings together the 57 German student services organizations. "The federal and state governments are called upon to ensure that rent does not become a new form of social selection: The future federal government must urgently increase the flat-rate housing allowance under the Federal Students Assistance Act (BAföG) and significantly increase and stabilize the federal-state program 'Junges Wohnen'. The state of Hesse is called upon to adapt its housing subsidy guidelines so that the Hessian student unions can create affordable housing for students even better and faster."

The Studierendenwerk received 640,000 euros in state subsidies from the WI-Bank for its most recent construction project as part of the Hessian Housing Promotion Act, in addition to 390,000 euros in KfW funding and a low-interest WIBank loan of 1.6 million euros. "We are very grateful for this support," said Christa Ambrosius, "but the cost increases from the start of planning in 2019 to completion were enormous." Passing on these additional costs to future tenants was out of the question, she added, because: "We have a social mission."

After all, no new land had to be found for the construction of Wolfhager Straße 10. This is because the building was previously used by the Studierendenwerk partly as an office building and partly as a hall of residence. "We decided to densify the location and thus also set an example for this inner-city district," says Ambrosius. And despite considerable doubts in view of the problems that a neighboring building had been making headlines for years.

Nicole Maisch, Mayor of Kassel and Head of the Department for Youth, Health, Education and Equal Opportunities, thanked the Studierendenwerk for its decision in favor of Wolfhager Straße: "You have sent out an extremely positive signal for Nordstadt. We can see how important student life is here and how the dynamism of our university promotes the district."

All good, then? Not quite, if Christa Ambrosius has her way: "We would like to create even more quality of life for our tenants here. More green, less concrete, less gray." Although the bright orange of the new hall of residence is already a nice accent, the Managing Director of the Studierendenwerk says that there is actually a lack of open spaces with trees and plants. Although there is a corresponding plan for the inner courtyard, which was previously used as a parking lot, "there is not only a lack of money here, but also a lack of leeway in the city of Kassel's parking space regulations," regretted Ambrosius. "Given the number of mandatory parking spaces, there is hardly any room for greenery. But we are not giving up hope of being able to create a green oasis here."

A press release from the Kassel Student Union