It doesn't solve all the problems, but it does help. The Santa Casa da Misericórdia (SCM) of Faro created a new university residence with 16 beds, in the urbanization of Montinho, in the Alto Rhodes area, in Faro, and yesterday signed a protocol with the University of Algarve for the institution to direct students there.
The new residence, which will be managed and under the sole responsibility of Santa Casa Farense, has eight double rooms, with a capacity to accommodate 16 people, in this case, they will only be girls. Each room has two beds, as many desks, one for each occupant, and two individual lockers, with a key.
The residence also has "a changing room with several showers and individual toilets, a small social room, a fully equipped kitchen, a laundry room with washer and dryer and Internet access", revealed to journalists Candeias Neto, SCM's provider. Faro, on the sidelines of the protocol signing ceremony.
The adaptation of this space – which has already served as a home for the elderly and, more recently, as a shelter for refugees – motivated an investment of 38 thousand euros by Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Faro.
The Chamber of Faro helped and supported the project with 6 thousand euros, following an application made by Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Faro.
“This figure does not include the work that has been done here by our maintenance staff, who have been here for weeks and weeks. We had bricklayers, carpenters...», revealed Candeias Neto.
All so that, from September, 16 students from UAlg can settle here, with the necessary conditions.
«This initiative by the SCM deserves the best reception from us, because, in fact, we only see advantages here for our students and, from there, for the city and for Santa Casa itself», considered Paulo Águas, dean of UAlg .
«The Santa Casa has a whole know-how in the social area, which involves issues of accommodation and hospitality. Now, in this component of student residence, I had no experience», he framed.
The university, through its Social Action Services, has a lot of knowledge in this area. “We accompanied SCM in the redesign of the space and in the layout of the rooms, as well as in the drafting of the residence regulations”, explained the dean of UAlg.
This new offer will help, but it does not solve a problem that has been noticed in recent years, the difficulty that students have in finding rooms to rent.
«UAlg currently has around 8 thousand students, of which close to 5 thousand are displaced, although they are not necessarily from outside the Algarve. But, for many young people in the Algarve, it is not viable to come and go from home every day, either because of the costs involved, or because of the time and unavailability of public transport», said Paulo Águas.
However, taking into account that the Algarve university only has “550 rooms”, in the residences it manages, the vast majority of these students have to look for other solutions.
Every year, UAlg receives many applications to fill vacancies in their homes. But some of these students end up not getting a place – “priority is given to the scholarship holders, who represent 60 to 65% of the total”.
The partnership agreement signed between the university and Santa Casa Farense passes, precisely, through here.
«We are going to send here the students who are applying for places in our residences, but who do not have a vacancy. From there, the students will have a relationship with Santa Casa da Misericórdia, which will be on the market. Students will decide if this offer is better than others available to them», explained the dean.
Also present at the ceremony was the mayor of Faro, an entity that supported the works to adapt the space.
“This project has two important components. One is the accommodation itself and the fact that we have another 16 new beds here,” said Rogério Bacalhau.
“The other is the social component and the fact that we have an institution that makes affordable rooms available to students. This is very important because it allows people to have accommodation without having to make a great effort, but also because it can be a message for real estate agents and contribute to lower prices," he added.
Photos: Rodrigo Damasceno |Sul Informação
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