Newsroom
Abandoned buildings in Paphos’ city center are getting a new lease on life, as the municipality transforms them into affordable student housing. The first phase of renovations is now ready to accommodate 27 students across 22 rooms in five hostels, with rents ranging from €150 to €250 a month, all inclusive of electricity, water, and internet.
Mayor Phaedon Phaedonos said the project aims to bring the city center back to life while providing practical, low-cost housing for students. “We created five hostels in buildings that had been abandoned for decades, many in ruins,” he said in a social media video. “Our teams handled everything: full renovations, interior design, kitchens, bathrooms, cabinets, and all necessary infrastructure.”
The five hostels are spread across historic city buildings:
- Ibrahim’s Inn: Four rooms.
- Vasilissis Olgas Street: Four rooms on the second floor of a residential building.
- Konstantinou Kanari Street: Ten rooms in the city’s oldest hotel (circa 1910), eight to be used for students.
- Former Bata store building: Three rooms, plus an Erasmus hostel with bunk beds for eight students.
- Markou Drakou Square (Lausanne): Three rooms in a previously collapsed second-floor house.
Most rooms are set at €150 per month, with four slightly larger rooms priced at €250. Around €50–60 of each rent payment will go toward ongoing building maintenance.
The mayor said the program will continue in the coming months, with plans to add 30 more rooms next semester and another 20 the following year. The ultimate goal is 70 rooms to house roughly 80 students.
“This initiative is about more than housing,” Phaedonas said. “We are bringing life back to the city center, where shops, restaurants, and permanent residents can coexist with students.”
The mayor shared a video of the newly renovated hostels on social media, highlighting the transformation of the long-abandoned buildings into modern, livable spaces.
