Experiences from host Sheila in Amstelveen

We can tell what we do, why we do it and why we love it. We sometimes ask hosts about their experiences, but this time we received a testimonial without asking. And we are more than happy to share it with you.

This testimonial is written by Sheila, about her homestay experiences in Amstelveen. Sheila is an entrepreneur, English-teacher and an experienced host. She hosted Dutch, Spanish and Chinese students before and currently a tenant from Italy, who she found through Hospi Housing.

Hospi Housing is a real gap in the market and Daan and his team have been very professional and supportive in their approach. Once I had expressed interest I received a personal phone call from Daan. We made acquaintances and my address and accommodation was verified during a video interview. Daan also explained to me the process of hosting and I told him about my previous experience.

Match with Italian student Francesca

The Hospi Housing website is informative for both hosts and students and is very user-friendly. Once I had uploaded info and photos of my accommodation and published it on their site, I was quickly inundated with chats from interested students. I received over 35 applications within 48 hours, some even from Erasmus students in Rotterdam and students from Leiden University. As I was only interested in hosting Master's students, as opposed to undergraduates, I quickly narrowed the field. And as I'm interested in all things Italian, I quickly selected Francesca, as her story and photo appealed to me. We had our own FaceTime-chat and virtual guided tour. In the end, you have to select not only with your head but with your heart, and I just had a good feeling about Francesca, right from the get-go. And that has proven true. She's lovely, smart and independent. We bonded well and chatted easily as soon as I picked her up from Schiphol.

The accommodation comprises a bedroom, a separate study/sitting room, a bathroom with a shared toilet and a galley kitchen, with a shared utility room. Francesca is busy, I'm busy, so we live quite independently at home, as we each have our own kitchen and living areas, but I'm always available if she needs any advice or help. We went to the City Council together so she could register officially (and even I had to fill in a form!) or just a lift here and there in my car.

Home-away from home

It's great to see her find her feet in Amstelveen and settle in at the VU, make new friends among her fellow students and get to know Dutch ways. I love being able to help students experience 'a home away from home' where they feel welcome, safe and relaxed. I'm fortunate to have the kind of house that allows two adults to live side-by-side. I offered her the use of my bicycle, but being Italian, she's more of a Vespa fan. I treat her like the young adult she is, and don't get in her face. I think that's part of what makes it work for us both.

So far, so good. The only cloud on the horizon is the spiralling cost of energy. I've seen copies of energy bills on Twitter that have quadrupled and more after the end of a contract period. That is an existential threat for everyone in the country, of course, but also certainly for the host-student structure, going forward. If gas and electricity cost as much or more than the received rent in the future, where is the incentive to be a host, when for example, I could just turn off the heating in those rooms instead of renting them to a student? This is an issue that only the Dutch government can resolve, either by increasing the annual tax-free total rent allowance for hosts, by price caps on energy bills in general or by implementing other subsidies to house owners. This is crucial if the government wants to improve the prospects for student housing here. So far, the Dutch government has been quiet on this worrisome subject, at least publicly. Let's hope for new measurements to keep hosting an attractive solution.

Sheila Cummins, Amstelveen, 16 September 2022 (Hospi Housing host).

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