Tom Green, Birmingham Socialist Students
Many first-year students have been told that they cannot be provided accommodation in halls because they are filled to capacity. Students have accepted offers from these universities with the assurance that places in halls would be available to them.
Some students studying in Manchester have been forced to take residence in Liverpool or Huddersfield, both over 30 miles away. All while universities, which are facing unprecedented mental-health crises, consistently claim to be ensuring student wellbeing.
Nowhere to go
This is part of an ongoing housing crisis. Not only do students face the soaring cost of living, unsafe places to live, and extortionate rent, but many are also left without a place to live at all.
Universities have continued to sell their accommodation stock to private providers like Unite Students, leaving students open to exploitation from external companies. After living in halls, students are then in housing from cowboy landlords and exploitative letting agencies.
University managements are consistently pushing to increase student cohorts each year, without regard for capacity of accommodation. Increasing student numbers means more profit for universities, most of which will be used to line the pockets of management and investors.
Tuition fees
University vice-chancellors don’t want to spend the money made from tuition fees on pay rises for striking lecturers or university staff, but instead towards vanity projects and flashy new buildings to attract investment.
To solve the student housing crisis, universities must first bring all halls back in-house. Universities have the ability to provide affordable and safe student housing, but instead choose to wash their hands of this responsibility. Rent control must also be implemented to ensure students, most of whom are first-time renters, are not ripped-off or exploited by greedy landlords in private accommodation.
