Student accommodation situation dire

The skyrocketing price of student accommodation has been an ongoing issue in the minds of students, one that certainly feels all too familiar for Imperial students living in London. This week saw the publication Property Week being forced to withdraw a category from their Student Accommodation Awards after the panel of student judges refused to choose a winner for Student Experience in a protest over increasing rent prices.

The panel consisted of students from a broad range of institutions including UCL, Bristol and Manchester Metropolitan University. In an open letter tweeted by Jenny Killin, welfare officer at the University of Aberdeen’s Student Association, the panel explains the decision they took: “None of the entrants could demonstrate that they are meeting the urgent need of students to live in accommodation that will not force them into poverty”.

The students’ open letter goes much further into explaining quite how dire the current situation is, stating that one applicant “puts shareholder satisfaction before student satisfaction and boasts “£20 million revenues” and ends resoundingly in the statement “Unless all students have access to safe, affordable accommodation at every institution and the means to pay for it, there is no cause for celebration, nor the ability for us to award a for-profit sector for failing so many of our peers.”

Our student judges have sent a clear message that the industry needs to do better

The decision by the student judges has been treated respectfully by Property Week, with a spokesperson for the Student Accommodation Awards saying in a statement to The Guardian: “Our student judges have sent a clear message that the industry needs to do better. In light of this, we have taken the decision to remove this category for this, our inaugural event, and review it for 2017. We will continue to encourage the industry to raise its game and put the student experience at the centre of everything it does.”

It is a hollow comfort to hear how universal the situation is across other institutions. This is an issue that has been discussed frequently over the last few years at Imperial College Union, featuring heavily in many DP (Welfare) manifestos. Last year saw Jennie Watson’s proposal for College to act as a rent guarantor for overseas students being accepted and agreed by the Provost, a clear win. That said, there is clearly a lot further for College to go when it comes to affordable student accommodation.

The primary target for further action here surely has to be for postgraduate students, whose current accommodation offering as listed on the College website consists solely of GradPad. There is a Union Council paper that handily sums up the issue: “The basic PhD stipend is less than a years rent at GradPad”. It also appears Postgraduates will remain unable to use College as a guarantor until three years of international undergraduate students have been trialled successfully.

It is a hollow comfort to hear how universal the situation is across other institutions