Paul Murphy blasts 'shameful' neglect of student accommodation
Paul Murphy criticised the state of student accommodation, arguing government proposals and inattention leave students exposed to rent resets and rising costs. He said universities are introducing new utility charges that act as back-door rent increases and warned students face food poverty and heavy work burdens rather than dropping out.
He described the situation as shameful and questioned whether student accommodation is treated as an afterthought by the government. He argued the rent pressure zone proposals did not account for short student tenancies of nine or ten months, which could allow rents to be reset when students move, and noted mixed signals about whether the Department of Housing or the minister will permit any exceptions for students.
He pointed to UCD introducing a new utility charge similar to charges already seen in DCU, saying this appears to increase costs outside the rent pressure zone. He said UCD students already pay the highest levels of rent in the country and described the added utility fee as an extra hit that students were not consulted on, adding his complaints had largely fallen on deaf ears.
He said students rarely drop out but frequently impoverish themselves to continue their degrees, leading to food poverty and the institution of a UCD food pantry this year. He also referenced figures cited in the discussion that at UCC some 60% of students work while studying and one in five of those work more than 20 hours a week, affecting academic and social life.
He warned that privately rented student accommodation - students renting houses or flats - are unlikely to be protected under the proposals because such tenancies are difficult to track and exempt, leaving many students at risk of regular rent increases.
Government planning and the rent pressure zone
He described the situation as shameful and questioned whether student accommodation is treated as an afterthought by the government. He argued the rent pressure zone proposals did not account for short student tenancies of nine or ten months, which could allow rents to be reset when students move, and noted mixed signals about whether the Department of Housing or the minister will permit any exceptions for students.
University utility charges and local examples
He pointed to UCD introducing a new utility charge similar to charges already seen in DCU, saying this appears to increase costs outside the rent pressure zone. He said UCD students already pay the highest levels of rent in the country and described the added utility fee as an extra hit that students were not consulted on, adding his complaints had largely fallen on deaf ears.
Student welfare, food poverty and work pressures
He said students rarely drop out but frequently impoverish themselves to continue their degrees, leading to food poverty and the institution of a UCD food pantry this year. He also referenced figures cited in the discussion that at UCC some 60% of students work while studying and one in five of those work more than 20 hours a week, affecting academic and social life.
Private renting, tracking and protections
He warned that privately rented student accommodation - students renting houses or flats - are unlikely to be protected under the proposals because such tenancies are difficult to track and exempt, leaving many students at risk of regular rent increases.
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Transcript
Thanks a million. Thanks for coming here and for all your work. I do think it is shameful that this is just an annual part of the kind of political and media calendar and that from all your perspective and the people who work in the unions, it's like, oh yeah, we know this is a thing and not only do you have to kind of advocate on the issue, you also have to like go out and appeal for anyone to put forward beds and this has been going on. Oh, this is a thing and not only do you have to kind of advocate on the issue, you also have to like go out and appeal for anyone to put forward beds and this has been going on well over a decade and it gets worse, so it's shameful. A question for whoever wants it is, do you think student accommodation is an afterthought for the government? I mean, it was striking when they came out with the new proposals around the rent pressure zone legislation that they genuinely seemed not to have thought about the facts, like what impact this was going to have if where people have a new tenancy rents could be reset every time and obviously a significant proportion of students are on like nine, ten month tenancies and therefore are faced with increases. So is that your general impression? And secondly, has there been more interaction with the Department of Housing or the Minister in relation to that? Because we got mixed signals, initially we got told, it was a pretty clear line that like, no, no, there's going to be no exceptions made for students. Now there's talk of some sort of exception being made for students or something new coming into the legislation. Do you have any more information about this and is it something that students are fearful of? It generally, to us, it feels like it wasn't thought about, that we would be at it, there was talks potentially that public-built student accommodation and private ones could be looked after, but when we look at the private renting scheme, students that are going into houses and stuff like that, they're not going to be protected and it's been more or less assured that they won't be protected, that there's no way to actually bring in that and actually track that properly, so it's not worth investigating. Okay, and you've no, yeah, you've no assurance, so maybe the likes of the student accommodation in UCD or whatever will be excluded, will not have rent resets every year, but obviously a student renting a flat in Rothmines, they're going to be hit by regular increases if they change their accommodation each time, that's your understanding. Yeah, just a question in relation to UCD, Students' Union, because I was struck by the charging for the utilities, you know, so there's certain limits in terms of what they can do with rent, but instead they're charging for utilities. Why do you think they are doing this? Is this a way to effectively circumvent, well, circumvent that, but also make up for a lack of necessary funding for the university? Yeah, and I've been kind of pretty clear about my charge at the university in relation to this. Look, UCD had a history of continually increasing rents at the 2% level each year in line with the rent pressure zone. However, last year for the first time they introduced a new utility charge similar to what has already been referenced in DCU, and, like, from my own perspective, what this seems to be is a way of increasing outside of the rent pressure zone through the back door. Now, look, whether that's in relation to inflation and lack of public funding, I'm actually not too sure, and I don't have the questions to hand on that, but when I've raised the matter, it's fallen on deaf ears, frankly, and, look, it's problematic because UCD students already pay the highest level of rent in the entire country, and this is just an extra hit that we didn't expect nor were not necessarily consulted on or hasn't even been mentioned to us since we've taken up our roles, and it's really been us pushing it, but it's extremely problematic on that level, yes. One question. Obviously, one of the impacts of the accommodation crisis is students having to drop out because they apply, CEO, they get their place, great, they're delighted, and they start to look, and maybe they start their course still commuting a kind of unviable distance, and then they realise this is just not going to happen. Do you have any figures nationally or at a kind of college level about the rates of dropouts linked to the student accommodation crisis, or is there an increase in the rate of dropouts over the past 10 years or so as the housing crisis has gotten worse and worse? What we actually find in UCD is students don't tend to drop out of their courses. What they tend to do is impoverish themselves to continue their degree, generally because of pressure from home essentially to continue, and pressure on themselves to continue as well, to put themselves in a better economic circumstance than when they found it. So I actually have to say, and I've reported, that the situation is sadder than a student necessarily dropping out. What they find is that they'll experience food poverty, and something that UCD in particular is doing this year is launching our food pantry for the first time. Like, look, this is a step that we didn't necessarily want to take, but we feel now, based on our own research, that there is the demand for it, and it's something that we are going to be offering to students this year. Thanks. Just related to that, obviously, the cost of accommodation puts a huge pressure on students to work, and, you know, I think most people will be okay with a little amount of work happening on the side, but the figures, for example, from UCC, is 60% of students working outside of their full-time study, one in five of those working more than 20 hours a week, which I presume is really having an impact on their academic life, but also their social life in college, just that they're effectively in college or they are working all the time. But one of the things I was also struck by is that you said that more than 25% of those working students are earning below the minimum wage. Is that legally earning below the minimum wage with the sub-minimum rates for under-20s, or is it being paid, you know, cash in hand, illegally, under the minimum wage, or a mixture of both? My impression is that there would be a mix there. I think the majority of that would be legally, as you said, but it just goes to show, like, how difficult it is for students to go and support themselves as well. If, when they are going out to work and trying their best, if they're working 20 hours a week, but still earning below the minimum wage, they have to work more hours than somebody who is older would have to. And it's similarly, as to Michael said as well, students do not want to drop out. That is the last thing that they would possibly want. So they will impoverish themselves. They will, like, forego food, forego meals, skimp out on any possible expenses, renege on so many of the opportunities that are given on the social side of university life, and just end up working 20 hours a week, sometimes even 30 hours. Thanks a lot.