Student Special: Examining the national housing crisis for students

Everyone knows that searching for accommodation in Ireland has become a nightmare. But in 2017, it is worse than that for students in the big cities. Much worse. Given that they are still locked into the academic system, students very seldom have access to a decent income. And yet Irish students are daily being confronted with the grim reality of endless property listings for “professionals only”; unfathomable, often extortionate rents; occasional scams – and utterly deplorable conditions in the places that will accept them.

How, you might ask, are students supposed to meet the sky-high demands of landlords? According to the latest daft.ie report, Ireland’s average national rent per accommodation unit is €1,159 per month. In Dublin it’s even higher, at €1,741 per month. According to daft.ie, there are currently fewer than 3,000 properties available to rent nationwide. Meanwhile over 30,000 students have accepted places from the CAO, and many are anxiously searching for somewhere to crash before their courses begin.

Worse than a nightmare? You bet.

GENUINE CRISIS

What we are seeing is a genuine crisis unfolding, with students being forced into the role of victim, brutalised by an unholy combination of inadequate planning on the part of the State, inertia within colleges and naked greed on the part of some landlords at least. To highlight just how bad it can get out there, UCD Student Union’s Campaign & Communications officer Barry Murphy and SU President Katie Ascough have been running a Snapchat campaign, which they have titled “Undercover Viewings”. The pair answered ads for student accommodation around Dublin, and secretly took footage of what they found was being made available to students.

Some of what they came back with is scarifying. The reaction from the wider student body has been immediate. Barry’s first batch of videos went viral, and attention they got earned them a meeting with Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy. To ensure that they would not be recognised, for their second sortie into the market, Katie went undercover.

With evidence of public anger mounting online, the Minister – who was a student himself in the not too distant past – agreed to expand funding for the students’ campaign, which is being run in collaboration with TCD’s students union and Daft.ie and which aims to encourage “empty nester” home-owners to open up their houses as student digs. They are also hoping to meet with Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor to secure additional funding for the project from the Department of Education.

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

There are, of course, excuses aplenty for how we have come to what is a sorry pass. Of course, it is a result of the crash, which led to a period during which no building whatsoever was going on in the Irish market. But with a bit of foresight that presented a unique opportunity for the Government to add value by pressing ahead with both social housing and student-style accommodation.

Was there a single third-level college that saw the need and made the necessary moves so that they’d be in a position to provide significant additional accommodation either on-campus or nearby? Take UCD – Barry and Katie’s college – as an example. Some student accommodation has been put in place there, but vast areas still exist on the campus where additional development can take place. Why was action not taken to move forward with the kind of development which would have benefitted both the college and the student body?

Make no mistake about it, what is being offered to students, and the prices that are being sought by owners, amount to a national disgrace. Here we give details of some the most deplorable student residences Barry and Katie found on the market.

If that were the only problem, it would perhaps be manageable. But the bigger issue is this. On the one hand we are facing a major crisis in homelessness. And on the other there isn’t remotely enough space available to accommodate students.

Over to you, Minister.

Barry: I viewed a place beside Croke Park, where seven people were living. It was for a grotty bed with stained sheets, in a room shared with two other people. The place was dark and grimy, and the state of it hardly seemed fit for habitation. The bathroom was coated with mould. The landlord felt that the market was so desperate, he didn’t even clean up before the viewing.

Katie: My first undercover viewing was a spot for the dirt cheap price of €250 a month in Crumlin. At such a price, expectations were precarious – just like the haphazardly-assembled lofted bed in what I will hesitantly describe as a kitchen. It was essentially a plank of wood propping up a bunch of rails. There wasn’t even a mattress! Health and safety was an absolute myth. Factor in the overpowering stench of granny feet and mould... ugh! I’m sure even mice were fleeing in the other direction.

Barry: At a studio apartment viewing in Cabra, we could nearly reach the sink while lying on the bed. The landlord tried to pressure us to run out and find an ATM, so he could be paid the rent and deposit on the spot. He didn’t even mention a contract. For €950 a month, the chipper outside was the best thing about it.

Katie: We went to another place in Dublin 8, where three girls were sharing one room and three guys were sharing the other. Both of these rooms were really meant for one person. Hopefully you’d get along with your housemates, because with beds that close together there’d be no escaping them – you’d nearly be cuddling inadvertently! People renting in a place like that have no liberty for any kind of noise or movement even. Another thing that struck me was the seller’s exasperation at how many people were trying to snatch up the place. There is real desperation out there.

Barry: We went to a place in Drumcondra that was advertised as a 15 person house. When we got there, it was clear that the house wasn’t meant for that many, to put it mildly. There were four bedrooms and one bathroom. Mattresses were going to be crammed into the bedrooms, to capitalise on the crisis. Not only that, one room didn’t even have a full wall separating it. There was a tiny fridge and no freezer, again for all 15 of us. And there was so little storage in the kitchen that cutlery, pots and pans were in a cupboard in the bathroom. That’s right, the kitchen utensils were right beside the toilet.

GETTING OVER THE THRESHOLD

Threshold is a national charity for those struggling to find housing. The organisation’s general manager, Stephen Large, discusses the current accommodation crisis – and what students can do to make the best of a bad situation.

These are challenging times for students in Ireland. They are being buffeted from all sides. There is chronic under-funding of third level education. Universities and colleges are increasingly being approached as businesses rather than places of learning. The quality of teaching at this level has become a major bone of contention. And, on top of all that, has been heaped the worst crisis in housing and accommodation in decades.

“Unfortunately, at what should be be an exciting time for students going to college, they’re entering the market at a very difficult moment and adding to the huge demand already exists,” says Stephen Large, the general manager of Threshold, the organisation which acts as a watchdog and advocate for those who are struggling to get a roof over their heads.

The result is that many students feel desperate to secure accommodation. While that desperation is understandable, Stephen Large’s clear advice is not to accept a sub-standard property under any circumstances. “There are some very shocking examples out there,” he says, matter-of-factly. “It’s best to pass on them, in spite of the huge pressure to accept a place.”

In particular, Large emphasises how important it is for students never to pay a deposit online, without first viewing a property. “Time and time and time again,” he says, “what we see, when someone does that, is that they are being scammed.”

While there is no limit to what landlords can demand as a deposit, Stephen also advises that it is best not to accept agreements where the requirement is for more than a month’s rent.

On the same topic, some landlords may ask for an upfront cash deposit. This, Stephen Large says, poses a risk. It is better to transfer money and to get a receipt.

“If the landlord won’t agree to that, it might be better to walk away,” he adds. “The seeds of a successful tenancy are sown at the very beginning. If there’s a problem at the outset, is that person going to be the kind of landlord to respond if and when problems arise? The answer, in all probability, is no.”

It is very tough out there, with long queues forming quickly for anything that seems at all attractive. Looking for a place, particularly in Dublin right now, is a form of torture that no one should have to go through – and as freshers’ weeks loom in colleges across the coutry, many students are genuinely starting to panic. Clearly, no one is going to perform the miracle of the loaves and the fishes and magic apartments and houses into being.

But the hope remains that the big cities will successfully embrace the influx, by hook – but without the crook.

If in doubt, Threshold are there to help...

For more information about your rights in the private rental sector, visit threshold.ie.