Belgium/1500 kots to be refurbished by 2039: UCLouvain renovates its student housing stock, while maintaining low rents
UCLouvain is a major player in the student rental market in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, owning 6,300 properties. But some of these kots and apartments are not in very good condition. A vast renovation plan has therefore been launched, both in Louvain-la-Neuve and on the university's other sites.
UCLouvain is not only modernizing its academic buildings. In 2024, it launched a major renovation plan for the accommodation it rents out to students. Today, the company has 6,325 units on its various sites, including 4,600 in Louvain-la-Neuve alone. Some, built decades ago, deserve much more than a fresh coat of paint.
What we often hear about are insulation problems, heating systems that only work half-heartedly, water and safetyissues," explains Alexandra.Alexandru Boborodea, vice-president of AGL, the General Assembly of Leuven Students. These testimonials are very important to us, and we can pass them on to the academic authorities. We can clearly see a willingness on the part of UCLouvain to work on these problems and renovate to ensure a good study environment for students."
Higher ambitions
Initially, UCLouvain's plan called for the refurbishment of 500 housing units by 2029, at a cost of 25 million euros, plus two million a year for lighter work. 200 renovated kots have already been relaunched on the market or are in the process of being relaunched. But the university now wants to go further. Two new phases have been confirmed.
Phases two and three involve the renovation of a further 1,000 units, giving a total of 1,500 units renovated by 2039," explains Alexia Autenne, General Administrator of UCLouvain. That's the goal we've set ourselves. Obviously, in terms of technical execution capacity, we're trying to schedule this into a plan that makes sense and enables us to manage supply and demand. Roughly speaking, we manage to avoid creating too much of a shortage."
moderate yers and social responsibility
Despite these heavy investments, the average rent for UCLouvain accommodation remains moderate, thanks in part to the energy savings achieved: 370 euros per month, including utilities, is 20% cheaper than prices elsewhere. In this way, the university is helping to regulate the rental market in Louvain-la-Neuve. It aims for balance, not profitability. Improving access to study is its priority.
By providing access to these apartments, we give a positive image of the university," continues Alexia Autenne. And it enables us to promote the social emancipation of students by offering them the opportunity to study in the most suitable conditions possible. The sociology of today's students is different from that of twenty or thirty years ago. Year in, year out, we still have one student in two who wants access to accommodation and who completes their studies away from home."
Renovation and new construction
In addition to its renovation plan, UCLouvain also encourages the emergence of new projects, while taking care to maintain the subtle balance between students and residents of Louvain-la-Neuve. For example, the construction of a 130-unit student housing building near the city center will be officially launched this Friday.
There 's still more student housing under construction," says Jean-François van Drooghenbroeck, vice-rector for student affairs. We're delighted that the number of students is constantly increasing, but we also have to keep up with our access policy. We're also attracting a lot of international students, for whom we have to offer decent accommodation conditions. So, yes, we're continuing to build and renovate."
Despite this proactive approach, the university will never be able to offer accommodation to every student who wants it for the entire duration of their studies. Certain profiles are favored, such as new arrivals, young people from modest families, those who live far away or who are involved in student activities. And there's a rotation rule: a student who is allocated university accommodation can only stay for two years.
Jean-François van Drooghenbroeck explains: "We want to enable new arrivals to take the place of those who have already settled in on the site, who have developed more contacts and can more easily find another kot through social networks in particular. So the gauge is two years. But we don't apply this rule blindly and abstractly. There are cases of students in particularly precarious situations, or with disabilities, for whom we are obviously careful to break the two-year limit."
Unscrupulous landlords
Of course, the student housing situation in Louvain-la-Neuve is far from idyllic, as a recent RTBF investigation showed. Many kots are insalubrious, and private landlords are not always attentive to their tenants' complaints.
We have some more dilapidated buildings, but it's precisely these that are targeted first in the renovation plan," explains Alexia Autenne, General Administrator of UCLouvain. But there is also some dilapidation in the housing offered by certain private players, which people sometimes tend to associate with us incorrectly. When it comes to our own students, if they are faced with a difficult personal housing situation, we can always try to intervene. So we do everything we can to pull it all together. But it remains a major challenge."
Source: www.rtbf.be/
