After a lively night, students with weary faces step out of ochre tents pitched on the first floor of Utrecht's main station, stirred by train departure calls.

The tents are part of a first-ever indoor campsite by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the Dutch state rail company, for 12 students without housing in Utrecht during orientation week before university starts.

The Netherlands had a housing shortfall of 396,000 homes last year, or 4.8 percent of the total stock, according to annual figures from ABF Research for the national government, with student cities such as Utrecht among the worst affected.

"We really wanted to do something for this demographic," NS spokesperson Sarah van Amerongen explained.

"There's a big shortage for rooms for them for housing in Utrecht but also in all the other big cities. And we thought... it would be super nice if we can give them a place to sleep here in the middle of Utrecht," said Amerongen, 29.

Arthur Simeon, 22, who will study economics, said staying at the station spared him a two-hour daily commute from temporary housing in Delft.

"I'm very new to the country. I just need to get to know people and make friends, so that I can have an enthusiastic experience," said Simeon, who arrived in the Netherlands from Kampala, Uganda three weeks ago.

Along with the tents, students received breakfast from station shops, activities such as a concert and yoga, and gym showers nearby.

"It's kind of rough to go through the shower every night all the way to Basic Fit (the Dutch gym chain) because you have to walk outside in your flip flops," said Asia Ferrando, who will begin a master's in international criminology. "Other than that, sleeping is fine."

Housing crisis

Ferrando, 23, from Italy, welcomed the initiative, having spent three months searching for housing in Utrecht.

"It's kind of hard because of course the prices are very high. Some places don't allow you to register (with the municipality) there and as an international student you need to register in the Netherlands to stay longer than four months," she said.

Ferrando's housing search has run into obstacles ranging from people unwilling to offer video viewings to others unwilling to live with foreigners who don't speak Dutch, a pattern that reflects the worsening housing crisis, she said.

"We are a small country, but we have almost 30,000 student rooms short. And especially in the big cities, it's a very, very big issue," said Joost Bokkers, founder of Hospi Housing, a social enterprise linking tenants with hosts.

"A lot of students have to stop their studies, and cannot come to the Netherlands because they do not have an accommodation."

Utrecht alone lacks 6,000 student rooms, Bokkers said, after visiting the campers to offer help.

The 12 students resumed their housing search on Thursday, when NS dismantled the tents, feeling slightly more settled in their new city.