Budapest attracts many young people with its universities, but the number of dormitory places has not kept pace with demand – citing this, Dávid Vitézy, Minister of Transport and Investment, announced the relaunch of Diákváros. 444 reported on his Facebook post on October 7.
Vitézy said Budapest is “a real student city”, yet there has been no real progress on the increasingly severe shortage of dormitory places. In his view, expanding dormitory capacity could also ease the housing crisis and make higher education accessible to more young people.
## A new role for the brownfield
The planned Student City would be built in one of Ferencváros’s brownfield areas. The concept envisions an urban environment where, in addition to dormitory housing, affordable housing would be developed, with good transportation connections.
The minister wrote that the re-established Budapest Public Development Council had decided to carry out the investment. According to him, the funding could come from EU funds brought home.
Although the planned district would be in Ferencváros, the announcement concerns an issue affecting the whole of Budapest. Vitézy argues that the new dormitory places could ease not only student housing but Budapest's housing difficulties in general.
## An old plan resurfaces
The Diákváros plan has come up in political debates several times before. In autumn 2024, Alexandra Szentkirályi spoke about building a 12,000-bed complex. According to 444 at the time, the government did not yet know how much the development might cost.
Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony was already pushing for Diákváros in 2021. He said then that he would only support the World Athletics Championships in Budapest if the government built the student district. The championships were held, but Diákváros was never built.
Source: 444
