New living space for students: start of construction celebrated in Hohenheim!

New living space for students: start of construction celebrated in Hohenheim!

On October 16, 2025, the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for a new residential complex that is being built by the Tübingen-Hohenheim Student Union took place in Stuttgart-Hohenheim. This facility is intended to provide living space for 126 students and is part of a comprehensive plan to relieve the strained housing situation at the University of Hohenheim. With the construction of this residential complex, the number of available places at the site will increase from 1,187 to 1,313.

The construction work, which requires an investment of around 13.9 million euros, now officially begins. The groundbreaking ceremony was celebrated by representatives of the student union, the University of Hohenheim and the Ministry of Science, Research and Art. There has been a huge increase in demand for housing in recent years - in 2024, for example, there were almost 1,800 applications for positions in dormitories.

Details about the residential complex

The new residential complex will consist of a three-part building ensemble that is expected to be completed by mid-2027. The dormitory was planned after winning an architectural competition that took place in 2019. The Cologne architects from barkowsky truer architekten GbR and the Munich office fischer heumann landschaftsarchitekten PartG mbB convinced the jury with their designs.

The building ensemble includes a total of one four-story and two three-story buildings. The facilities will be diverse: 61 single apartments, two wheelchair-accessible apartments as well as seven four-person and seven five-person shared apartments will be available. All rooms will be furnished and equipped with media connections as well as shared kitchens and sanitary facilities.

Support from the country

Part of the financing for this project comes from the state program “Junges Wohnen BW”, which aims to improve the living situation for students and trainees. This initiative is part of social housing in Germany, which was introduced after the Second World War to create living space for the general population. The federal government is providing the states with financial aid for this purpose, which is also intended to support the creation of dormitory places for trainees for the first time in order to address the needs of this target group.

In Baden-Württemberg, the Ministry of Science, Research and Art has been supporting dormitory places for many years. The new funding approach supports, among other things, the creation of new dormitory places and the modernization of existing facilities. The aim is to create affordable housing and promote social integration.

In order to implement the planned measures, an expression of interest process has been launched and it is expected that a longer-term administrative regulation will be issued in the future. Questions about funding can be directed to the responsible authorities.

The development of social housing in Germany has gone through several phases, starting with a massive need after the Second World War. The current renaissance of social housing, which has been observed since 2015, is a response to the increasing lack of affordable housing in many cities. A central goal is to adequately take into account the challenges of today's society and to create affordable housing. In addition, a constitutional regulation was introduced in 2019 that enables the federal government to financially support the states in promoting social housing.