Government must invest in accommodation

Last Wednesday, another 17,500 people joined the search for accommodation across the country. This, according to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), is the number of first-year students who have just begun the annual scramble for housing, even before they know which college course they will be following.

This year the housing mandate of the USI is clear and direct: the Government must invest, directly, in purpose-built student accommodation if the crisis in student housing is to be resolved.

Currently, only six per cent of students in Ireland are housed in on-campus or student purpose accommodation, while in the comparable housing market in Britain the level is 28 per cent. The USI is calling on the Government to bring the Irish figure up to the European average of 17 per cent.

USI welfare officer, Alison Gibney, says, unless the Government adequately addresses the twin issues of availability and affordability, students will find it increasingly difficult to find anywhere to live. "The situation is going to be as bad this year as it was last year, if not worse, because the Government is encouraging more and more people to take up college places without providing any more accommodation," she observed.

Gibney says that, if the Government were to build student accommodation, it would dramatically ease the strain on the private rented sector. "It makes so much sense for the Government to build student housing because it will take pressure off the private rented sector immediately.

"If you consider that there are 115,000 full-time students studying in Ireland - roughly just over 50 per cent of them live away from home. So taking about 40,000 to 50,000 people out of the loop would solve an awful lot of problems."

The report of the Commission on the Private Rented Sector recommends that the tax breaks allowed under Section 50 of the 1999 Finance Act be extended to allow for more student accommodation.

While Gibney welcomes the initiative she says that the Section 50 relief is not enough to arrest the crisis. "The problem with Section 50 developments is that after 10 years they revert back to the company that built them to develop them however they wish. So, even if student accommodation is built now, in 10 years time who's to say the market is going to be any better?"

The shortages in student accommodation mean that many students again this year will have to turn to renting flats and houses, which are moving beyond their financial reach. "For students who are forced to stay in the private rented sector, the grant has gone up by £2 this year to a maximum of £49 per week.

"The average rent is over £50 for a person sharing a room. Even if you were living in the dingiest dive in Dublin your grant would not even cover your rent let alone your travel and food."

Gibney says that the issue of affordability was not addressed under the Commission. Students, she says, cannot pay any more than they currently do and so they have to come up with their own solutions to the problem.

"Students are moving further and further away from their colleges. In Dublin many of them are choosing to live as far out as Bray on the DART line. There's no student typical area anymore. You'll find that in order to pay £50 a week students will just cram people in." Fine Gael spokesperson on housing, Billy Timmins, says that the type of accommodation traditionally occupied by students is disappearing. "Students always end up in the most dilapidated accommodation, because it's all they can afford, but what's happening now is that those who would have previously got local authority housing or private accommodation are being forced, financially, into student-type accommodation."

He says that, in order to compete, students are having to sacrifice their free time and even their studies. "Students are having to work right through the summer and then maintain part-time jobs during the academic year. A lot of people have had to make sacrifices to go to college, it's unfair that they should have to sacrifice all their spare time just to pay their rent."

On-campus accommodation is still the best option for students, if they are lucky enough to get it. However it also has its disadvantages. "The problem with on-campus accommodation," says Gibney, "is that you don't have tenant's rights. What USI is calling for is a minimum bill of rights, we know we won't get full tenant's rights, but we want a bill of rights which would cover minimum notice to quit and a right to notice to inspect." Every year, the USI receives complaints from students who feel their deposits for on-campus accommodation have been unfairly withheld or who have been evicted with less than a week's notice. They also say that those employed to monitor the campus should be more closely vetted.

"We get a lot of complaints about the people who police campuses and often, they're not really suitable for the job and are bad at dealing with people." Despite the difficulties in finding accommodation, USI advises first years not to look for housing until they are certain which college course they will be pursuing. "A lot of first years go and secure accommodation in, say, Cork and then get their college offer in Galway," says Gibney.

She reassures students that accommodation marketed specifically towards students does become available in late August and September: "It's the type that students can afford and the amenities that students expect. Landlords wouldn't exactly release it on the market and say it suits professionals."

The USI advises students seeking accommodation to contact their student union or accommodation office now, for both accommodation listings and general advice and support. Information on tenants rights and copies of sample leases are available from the tenants' advice group Threshold, or your students union.