Student halls in Crete appear to be the closest to starting, with Aktor Group as the contractor. A total of 1,810 apartments with a capacity of 2,710 beds will be built in Rethymno, and 1,016 apartments with 2,136 beds in Iraklio, shown in this model photo.
Funds estimated to exceed €1 billion are currently being leveraged to gradually upgrade and strengthen the stock of student dormitories in the two major urban centers of Athens and Thessaloniki, and in a number of large university units in the rest of Greece, such as Crete, Komotini, Thessaly and Western Macedonia, from this year until the end of the decade.
Once all the projects are completed, it is estimated that the housing needs of over 18,000 students across the country will be covered. That should ease the very high pressure recorded every year in the rental of small houses from 30 to 65 square meters, which ultimately causes distortions and leads to the phenomenon of exclusion of a portion of students, due to the high costs. A few weeks ago, it became known that a program of €226 million had been drawn up for the renovation of 15 student residence buildings in Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Patra and Komotini.
The aim is to accommodate 5,600 students, while it is also planned to increase the capacity of the buildings by 36%. Illustrating the state’s chronic neglect of student housing is that 90% of these properties were built before 1985, meaning they are more than 40 years old, and in many cases the deterioration is so extensive that their occupancy rate is almost zero.
