Student accommodation problems still not tackled

Hannah Kate Costello

The Government's campaign encouraging more people to rent a room to students admits it hasn't provided enough student accommodation.

The Irish Times ran a piece last year on the state of the student crisis, citing that thousands of on-campus student beds across Dublin remain unbuilt despite planning permission because of rising construction costs and a gap in Government funding.

According to student organisation AMLÉ, the lack of regulations surrounding digs accommodation has made it a difficult option for some students.

According to the Department of Higher Education, six in 10 students who've been in digs describe having a good relationship with their host, who have launched a national "rethink the room" campaign to try and increase digs accommodation.

Those who offer to have a student live with them can earn up to 14 thousand euro while students, or their parents, can avail of a rent tax credit of up to two thousand a year.

However, AMLÉ President Daniel Walsh said to Newstalk today that students effectively have no tenancy protections: "It might be as simple as requiring landlords to register tenancies and to bring them under the agreement of the Residential Tenancies Board."

"So there is that layer of protection because, as it stands, there's absolutely no protection for students renting in digs."

"We've faced cases this year where students have been evicted effectively overnight with less than 24 hours' worth of notice. They're left with really no recourse."

"Digs-style accommodation isn't a sustainable solution to the student accommodation crisis."

"I think that the department, in appealing to homeowners like this, is basically acknowledging and admitting that their student accommodation strategy is failing to provide a consistent supply of student accommodation."

"We know that there's an existing shortage of up to 50,000 student-specific beds. The only way to plug that gap is going to be state investment into publically funded student specific accommodation."