Accommodation chaos continues for freshers as conference hotels offered as ‘temporary’ rooms

Some freshers arriving on campus ahead of Welcome Week are facing stays in temporary rooms in on-campus conference hotels, amid Warwick’s ongoing accommodation shortage.

The Boar is aware of several individuals who have been allocated temporary accommodation by the University until a permanent alternative becomes available.

Students allocated temporary accommodation will be placed in rooms in on-site conference hotels and in “individual or shared flats”.

The University told The Boar that it anticipates that “a small number of permanent accommodations will become available during Term 1, as is typical each year, due to student withdrawals and other changes”.

Students offered temporary accommodation were also offered the option of off-campus accommodation via partner providers

Therefore, those students who are placed in temporary accommodation will, hopefully, be offered permanent housing on-campus at some point later in the year.

This news comes just weeks after The Boar reported that as many as 1,000 incoming first years had been offered off-campus accommodation via ‘partner providers’, as rooms on-campus had been fully allocated.

According to the University, students offered temporary accommodation were also offered the option of off-campus accommodation via partner providers, with individuals having the choice of whether to take the partner accommodation or temporary housing.

While the partner accommodation is purpose-built for students, including 24/7 on-site assistance and social spaces, the blocks are located far away from campus.

The closest partner accommodation offered to incoming freshers was Longwood Place, which is a 20-minute walk away. Others are located in Coventry and either require students to take a bus ride onto campus each day, or walk over an hour to lectures.

[The University] has increased the number of on-campus accommodation available to first-year students [this year], compared to last year

University statement

The University told The Boar that the blocks are in “convenient locations” with “excellent transport links”. However, despite these claims, affected individuals have described their distressed state after being allocated housing off-campus.

One of Warwick’s appeals to incoming freshers is the campus accommodation and many choose the University based on this factor.

The University has recently closed Westwood shared bathroom flats, as well as other blocks, such as Whitefields. However, a spokesperson for the University has stated that these closures have not directly caused the need for off-campus and temporary accommodation offers.

They stated that the University has “increased the number of on-campus accommodation available to first-year students [this year], compared to last year”.

Many parents of incoming freshers have also said that their children did not receive their accommodation allocations before the University’s so-called ‘deadline day’. This left many incoming first-years without any idea of where they’d be living, just weeks before they were set to move to University.

The University [confirmed] that every eligible incoming fresher had received their accommodation offer by 12 September

A spokesperson for the University told The Boar that they appreciate the “patience and understanding” of students and their families who had to wait for their accommodation, and acknowledged that housing is a “key concern” for these individuals as they “transition into university life”.

The University went on to confirm that every eligible incoming fresher had received their accommodation offer by 12 September.

While the University of Warwick maintains that all eligible students have now received accommodation offers and that campus housing availability has increased since last year, many freshers and their families remain unsettled by the last-minute nature of their placements.