A major provider of student apartments is going to introduce a lottery system for rooms in Nijmegen and Arnhem, reports Trouw.

SSH&, which has more than 19,000 rooms and homes in the Netherlands, told the paper that it is going to scrap waiting lists in these popular university towns.

Instead, it will put its 6,500 rentals in Nijmegen and 500 in Arnhem in a lottery system – reducing waiting list times from up to six years. ‘The average student studies for less time than this,’ strategy manager Vincent Buitenhuis reportedly said. ‘By putting everything in a lottery, we will open things up.’

Students living more than two hours from the university will still have a priority, and he said the corporation also aimed to build new housing to relieve some of the shortage.