Proposal to allow private accommodation providers to hike rents for students receives criticism

Ottoline Spearman

The Department of Higher Education has proposed that private providers be allowed to increase rent prices for students.

The Irish Examiner reports that the proposal is being put forward to attract more developers into the market and address the student accommodation shortage.

Previously, the Department of Housing proposed that a reset of market rent only be allowed every three years, meaning rents could not be increased until 2029.

The Department of Higher Education now wants there to be a further two resets before then.

Student group AMLÉ said that students are already facing exorbitant rent prices, with many forced to drop out due to high costs.

Daniel Walsh, AMLÉ's Vice-President for the Dublin region said on Newstalk: "Realistically, many students don't have a choice but to grin and bear it.

"In some unfortunate cases, students are actually forced to drop out because of just how expensive private student accommodation is.

"But in most cases, it's just that students are going without. They're going to lectures hungry, they're skipping lectures so they can work extra hours."

In a statement, the department said that the Minister for Higher Education, James Lawless, would be publishing a new Accommodation Strategy in the coming weeks, that will build a fairer, more sustainable system, where cost and availability are no longer barriers to entry for college.

But Ms Walsh said on Newstalk that the government is over-reliant on the private sector: "The private rental markets and these private student accommodation providers are not the solution to the student accommodation crisis.

"It's not in their interest to solve the crisis. They're currently making millions off the back of students and their families who have no choice but to pay up or to drop out.

"That's going to continue to be the case until the government acknowledges that reality."