UK university housing situation reaching a ‘crisis point’

Last month, the student housing charity Unipol described the current housing situation in the UK as reaching a ‘crisis point’ as many students struggle to find suitable accommodation to rent.

Across the country, undergraduates have been forced to stay with relatives, relocate miles away, and even drop out altogether due to a lack of student homes. A recent study by the National Union of Students in Scotland found that 12% of students had experienced homelessness as they struggle to contend with a shortage of affordable university housing during surging inflation.

The Boar spoke to Imogen, a first-year undergraduate studying at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, one of the cities worst affected by the housing crisis. Over the phone, Imogen described how she had been forced to live with her grandparents for the first months of university as Strathclyde had been unable to find accommodation for her. She explained that every day she had to travel over an hour into Glasgow by bus to attend lectures and classes.

“For the first month of being at uni, I was either at uni, in a lecture, or at my grandparents alone. A lot of the uni’s clubs happened during the evening, and I didn’t want to be [travelling alone] because the buses stop running at eleven and I didn’t want to be stuck in the city centre with nobody.

“I don’t really have any friends because I missed a lot of stuff because of that.”

The uni left it until two weeks before the start of fresher’s week and by that point there was nothing left

– Glasgow Student

Imogen’s story is similar to thousands of other students across the country. At the University of Manchester, students have been offered £2,500 to move out of university accommodation to stay with relatives, while those without places to live have been commuting from Liverpool, 30 miles away.

At the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol, 127 first years have been sent to Newport in Wales, an hour train journey from UWE’s main campus. In Durham, where there is an acute shortfall in university accommodation, students were seen queueing overnight in a rush to sign contracts for houses for the next academic year.

In Glasgow, Imogen blamed the shortage of university accommodation on the fact that there are three universities – Caledonian, Glasgow, and Strathclyde – all competing for student homes in a small area. However, she said that the situation was exacerbated by a lack of communication between students, universities, and landlords: “The uni left it until two weeks before the start of fresher’s week [to communicate that there were no houses left] and by that point there was nothing left.”

Mark Blakey, the Chief Executive of Unipol, cited two main causes for the current crisis: rising undergraduate numbers and a slowdown in growth of purpose-built student accommodation.

Both factors have been worsened by Covid which saw a record student intake, while many landlords left the student homes market during the pandemic. Since restrictions were eased, the situation has been compounded by the return of many international students attending university in person for the first time.

Two girls in the same situation as me had to stay in hostels every day for the first two weeks, paying every day

– Glasgow Student

StuRents accommodation portal, responsible for 70% of student homes in the UK, reports that the crisis is likely to worsen. They estimate that there will be a shortfall of 450,000 student beds by 2025.

Fortunately, Imogen’s story has somewhat of a happy ending. Eventually, Strathclyde found a third-party room in Glasgow for her to stay in after another student dropped out and Imogen could move out of her grandparent’s house. However, she says that she was lucky: “For those who did not [have family to stay with,] it was a mess.

“Two girls in the same situation as me had to stay in hostels every day for the first two weeks, paying every day. They then found somewhere to rent in not-so-great areas of Glasgow an hour away. Students are disappointed and angry with the situation.”