Amy Sage, Bristol Socialist Students
Student housing has reached crisis point. The number of UK students facing homelessness is on the rise. A study conducted by Student Beans – a discount website – revealed that one third of students face housing insecurity. Students are struggling to secure themselves a place to stay for their studies. Instead, they are being forced to live in Airbnbs or hotels, couchsurf, or even live in their cars. This is only set to get worse.
Since 2021, demand for university education has risen by 8%. There are now over two million full-time students currently studying at UK universities. Many universities, faced with a funding ‘black hole’ due to a fall in student numbers during 2020, have been desperate to cram more and more students onto courses, particularly more lucrative international students. However, they have been over-recruiting to courses knowing full well that they are unable to provide these students with residential accommodation.
There is a student housing shortage across all UK universities with an estimated shortfall of 207,000 student beds. For those fortunate enough to have found accommodation, one third say that they don’t think they will be able to afford next month’s rent. University students now spend between 68% and 74% of their student maintenance loan on accommodation (private and university-owned housing respectively) with rents rising faster than inflation. Leaving, on average, just £150 per month for food and other living expenses, it is forcing one in ten students to use food banks.
Quality housing needed
It is not just the price of housing that is an issue, however. Many students find themselves living in poor quality, unsafe accommodation. Problems with damp or mould, lack of water or heating, and rat and insect infestations are just some of the problems students face.
Others have found themselves forced to live far away from their university. In Bristol, for example, students have been offered accommodation in Newport – about an hour away from Bristol on the train. Of course, the stress and isolation this situation causes will only exacerbate the existing mental health crisis among students.
It is clear that there is a structural undersupply of student accommodation across the UK. This shortage of housing stock has allowed predatory pricing and exploitative practices by both private landlords and third-party student accommodation providers. Universities have a responsibility to provide good-quality, affordable housing to all their students.
An expansion of purpose-built student accommodation should not be done at the expense of local communities. To stop working-class people being priced out of their cities, and to reduce strain on austerity-hit local services such as bin collections, healthcare etc, we need a democratic plan. A socialist society based on democratic public ownership of big business and the banks would be able to plan and provide good-quality homes, jobs, and services for all, students and local residents alike.
It is also clear that students need a political voice. Starmer’s Labour has ditched its pledge to scrap tuition fees for university students and offers no clear solution to the problems faced by students and working-class people, including the housing crisis. Students and young people need a new political party that can fight for its interests and fight for a socialist alternative.
Socialists Students demands:
- Scrap fees, cancel student debt, and replace maintenance loans with living grants tied to the rate of inflation
- Bring third-party halls into ownership and control of the university with compensation paid only on the basis of proven need
- Introduce rent controls in all student accommodation, to be decided by democratically elected committees including campus trade unions, staff and students
- For councils to use their powers to compulsorily register all private landlords as a means to improve housing standards and implement rent controls
- No evictions for students who can’t afford rent. Ensure access to emergency cost-of-living grants for all
- Ban agency and contract fees
- Launch a mass building programme of good quality, affordable student housing under the democratic oversight of students and local communities, alongside building the council housing people need
- For a fully funded higher education system to end the student housing crisis – take the wealth off the 1%
