Deventer, The Netherlands - 2012

Estatus: Existing

Promoter: Humanitas, non-profit organisation

Different generations may have different but complementary needs. The retirement home and student housing in one, run by a non-profit organisation Humanitas and located in the Dutch city of Deventer, is a great example of this. 

The premise is simple: students need affordable housing, older people living in retirement homes need extra care and resources – as always – are scarce. In 2012 the situation in the Netherlands reached a critical point where cities like Amsterdam were short of thousands of student rooms and at the same time the Dutch government has cut care funding for people over 80.

This led Humanitas, a non-profit organisation active all over the country, to come up with the idea of offering free housing to students in exchange for 30 hours a month of volunteer work. The programme developed in Deventer is such a success that it has been copied in other retirement homes in Netherlands and elsewhere.

“If [students] could get a room in Humanitas, they wouldn’t have to borrow so much money for their study” explains Gea Sijpkes, the CEO of Humanitas, and adds: “at the same time, I have some young people in the house, which makes Humanitas the warmest and nicest home in which everybody who needs care would want to live.” 

Instead of building cities for the younger or the older, let’s build the city where they can all meet and have fun together.