15th Jun 2016

It has been reported that the crunch for student accommodation will continue this coming September. Students are advised to begin the search for accommodation early.

In a report commissioned by the Higher Education Authority, there were 31,296 bed spaces available to students in 2014, but the projected demand is over 57,000 when taking into account students at public and private institutions. TheJournal.ie has spoken to several students’ unions around the country and all share concerns.

Dublin is hit worst, but other cities such as Galway and Cork face a similar struggle.

The government has been vocal about the crisis, and minister for education, Richard Bruton and minister for housing, Simon Coveney, have both shared their thoughts on the student accommodation crisis recently. Coveney said before the Committee on Housing and Homelessness:

“We should consider creating a dramatic increase in the on-campus and near-to-campus student accommodation. The solutions to student accommodation lie in rapid-build technologies, modular units and so on. Student accommodation is quite different from a family home. Some of the solutions could be put in place much more quickly than conventional housing and could free up a significant number of places over a short space of time.”

Students are encouraged to start looking for accommodation early in order to avoid problems in September.