€1,200 for f ive days a week student digs
STUDENTS are being charged up to €1,200 a month to rent a room in a family home for five nights a week as the housing crisis deepens.
The head of University College Dublin’s Students’ Union (UCDSU) says people are cashing in on students’ desperation.
UCDSU launched a ‘drive for digs’ campaign last month to encourage more people to rent rooms to despairing students amid the worst housing crisis in the history of the State.
And while the campaign was a success, with
‘People have taken the opportunity to cash in’
‘roughly 400’ households coming forward, UCDSU president Molly Greenough told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘It seems that some people have taken this as an opportunity to, kind of, cash in on the difficulties students are facing. We’ve seen five-day rents being advertised for €1,200 a month, which is just extortionate.’
Ms Greenough pointed out that the cost indicated people were taking the Government’s Rent-a-Room scheme ‘a bit too literally’. The scheme, pushed by Higher Education Minister Simon Harris last month, allows people to make up to €14,000 a year tax-free by letting a room.
‘The tax scheme is there so as to not disadvantage a homeowner renting two or three rooms to students,’ said Ms Greenough. ‘It’s not by any means a suggestion on how much you should charge.’
She said the dire accommodation situation – in which a tent (€35 a night) and a sofa (€50 a night) were advertised on Airbnb in the past week – has become even worse for students since CAO offers were released last week.
‘Now there’s a whole other year of students all searching for accommodation. We’ve also seen a lot of international students come over to Dublin in recent weeks and they’re all either staying in temporary accommodation like hostels or hotels, or hoping to stay with a friend couch-surfing as a short-term measure.’
She said increased numbers of students are deferring their courses until next year and others are taking out significant loans.
‘They’re searching with a budget of up to €2,000 a month and incurring debt, but they still can’t find anything.’
Ms Greenough said of the digs campaign: ‘Hopefully it’s helped out a few of them, but we really still need to look at a long-term solution. I have an underlying fear that this time next year we’re going to be in the same position, if not worse, because this isn’t a new crisis. Every single year for the last number of years students have faced difficulties. It is certainly difficult this year and I’d argue it’s hit a breaking point.’
Student Alex Connell, 18, is one of those affected. He will commute over two hours each way to UCD when lectures start on September 26 – longer than he will spend on campus some days.
The first-year Social Sciences student from Carbury, Co. Kildare, said the cost of accommodation was prohibiting him from moving closer to university.
‘I’m on the disability allowance of €208 a week and one of the highest SUSI grant rates of €360 a month, leaving me with an income of roughly €1,100 a month. That’s far more than a lot of my friends in work, yet still this is not a feasible amount to live on in Dublin.’
He said students like him who rely on State supports ‘are being entirely left out of the conversation regarding the accommodation crisis’.
Meanwhile, the French embassy is warning students and others relocating here from France that Ireland is experiencing ‘a severe housing crisis’ and that they will face ‘significant difficulties’ finding accommodation.