Dutch students choose to live in nursing homes rent-free
(as long as they keep the residents company)
NINETY-TWO-YEAR-OLD Johanna beams at the 20-year-old stepping into her room — not a visiting grandson, but rather a housemate at her retirement home.
Town planning student Jurrien is one of six who have chosen to live in the yellow-brick home in Deventer in the eastern Netherlands as part of a unique project that benefits everyone.
The university students pay no rent and in exchange spend at least 30 hours a month with some of the 160 elderly who live here, doing the things professional staff cannot always do — such as just hanging out.
