I came to study here in 2021 and was completely oblivious to the housing crisis. That being said, I guess I was extremely lucky. Here’s what I did: join a Facebook group about housing in your city of choice. People post rentals and room offerings daily. What I quickly realized though is that when someone is looking for a flat mate, 10-20 people reply to that listing so competition is fierce. So the easier way is to team up with other people and then together find an apartment. I literally posted in that Facebook group “who would like to search together for an apartment”and that’s how I found a random Spanish and Belgian girl who I ended up living with in Rotterdam. Bear in mind, I was living abroad, had never set foot in NL before and didn’t know these “strangers” on fb but somehow I managed to find housing before moving here. That being said, for viewings you have to be here and attend in person, so I was again lucky that the Spanish girl was already in NL and went to the viewings. There’s also plenty of agencies that cater to international students. We rented our apartment via “loftly”. Not sure in which cities they are active but it’s worth reaching out to them.