Cyprus is set to permit student rooms as small as 12 square metres — including the bathroom — under a new housing scheme announced by Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou aimed at addressing a chronic shortage of affordable student accommodation across the island.
The initiative, formally titled the Student Residential Units Construction Scheme, targets tens of thousands of students enrolled at higher education institutions in every major Cypriot city.
The ministry said soaring rents had become so severe that some students were abandoning their studies altogether.
Under the scheme, a single-bedroom unit would have a total floor area of 25 sq m, comprising a 12 sq m bedroom with en-suite facilities, a 4 sq m kitchen and a 9 sq m living area.
Larger units scale up to a maximum of ten bedrooms, with a total area of 152 sq m, a 12 sq m kitchen and a 20 sq m living area. The ministry said reducing floor areas was intended to bring rents down.
The minister issued a directive under Article 6 of the Town Planning and Country Planning Law, setting out the scheme’s goals as expanding student housing options within the wider community, either in dedicated student units or mixed-use developments, while maintaining the character of host neighbourhoods.
Each unit must provide at least one car parking space per five student rooms and one motorbike or bicycle space per room, provided the development is within one kilometre of a recognised higher education institution. Units must also comply with disability access regulations.
A Student Residential Unit is defined as a self-contained housing unit with a single entrance used exclusively by students enrolled at a recognised higher education institution, with a maximum of ten rooms.
Units may form part of a larger building alongside other compatible uses, and may also be let to academic, research or other staff of recognised institutions. Postgraduate, doctoral and Erasmus students are all eligible.
Ground-floor placement in buildings that have traditionally housed commercial uses will not generally be permitted.
The scheme applies to new developments as well as change-of-use applications and alterations to existing buildings, with planning permits to include conditions allowing periodic compliance checks by the relevant authority.