Yahoo Finance SNP rent freeze fuelling student housing crisis, say landlords
An SNP rent freeze is fuelling a student housing crisis in Scotland, landlords have warned, after a university urged students to drop out because they cannot find anywhere to live.
Students have said they are being forced to live in hostels, Airbnbs and sleep on friends' sofas in Edinburgh and Glasgow because of a "scandalous" lack of affordable housing in the cities.
Landlords claimed that the Scottish Government's ban on them raising rents and evicting tenants until March 31 next year has compounded the shortage with many warning that they will remove their properties from the housing market.
The crisis, which is also being driven by earlier rent increases, could force students to live hours away from campus or in some cases abandon their studies altogether.
In a recent email circulated to students, Glasgow University "strongly advised" those without anywhere to live not to "complete enrolment" and said "it may be more appropriate for you to suspend your studies or withdraw".
In another email, sent to students a month before the autumn term began this week, the university warned they will face "accommodation challenges" because of a "contraction in the rental market".
Private rents in Glasgow have risen to £1,000 a month on average in the last year while they now stand at £1,200 in Edinburgh.
Lecturers and students have accused Glasgow University of pursuing an "unsustainable increase" in student intake which has left many bereft of housing.
Dr Alister Wedderburn, a politics lecturer at the university, called it "obscene" that "student enrolment is currently conditional on the vagaries of a wildly overcooked and overpriced housing market".
In a series of posts on Twitter, now deleted, he said: "The University of Glasgow is pursuing such unsustainable increases in student numbers that many students are without accommodation as term starts.
“One second year [student] has just forwarded me an email from the Uni advising them to withdraw altogether from their studies.
"This is a scandal. It should not be unreasonable for students to be able to rent digs in the city in which they study."
Conor Shaw, a fourth year English literature and film student at Glasgow University, has been looking for a flat since June.
The 20-year-old said unless he and his two flatmates find a flat soon, he will be forced to make a three hour commute every day from his parents home in Dundee.
He said: "We have actually resorted to having to apply for unfurnished properties that are in a lot of cases maybe £300 or £400 cheaper per month per person. In previous years we have never considered or had to resort to this.
"If you are not able to find accommodation, the university is strongly recommending you defer until next year.
"I don't exactly fancy the idea of that because not only would I not be able to graduate with all my friends but also I have got no guarantee that the situation is not going to be the same as this year or worse."
The University of Glasgow said it was "continuing to engage with private providers and with local government on issues with the city's private rental market".
A spokesperson added: "We understand the concern students have about finding accommodation for the new semester, and we are taking a number of actions to support our students and ensure continuity of learning wherever possible."
"In some cases, our advice may include pausing studies for this academic year while ensuring students continue to have access to university systems and services."
Isi Williams, Vice President of the Edinburgh University Student's Association, revealed many students have resorted to "short-term, often costly solutions" such as hostels, Airbnbs and couch surfing.
She said: "We’ve had reports of students being encouraged by Edinburgh institutions to take leave from their studies, or withdraw completely, if they are unable to meet the requirements of studying in-person."
"We know of students applying for hundreds of flats but only being offered viewings to one or two. This housing shortage has led to more students choosing to commute daily to Edinburgh, as it is often a cheaper alternative."
John Blackwood, chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) has laid the blame for the crisis squarely "at the doors of St Andrew's House" and warned the situation "will increasingly become the norm" unless immediate action is taken.
Mr Blackwood said they "entirely sympathised" with the students and called on the Scottish Greens and SNP to invest in the housing sector.
Edinburgh University stressed they are not operating "any policy to encourage students to defer or interrupt their studies as a result of accommodation problems."
A spokesman said they are "acutely aware" that "some students have been struggling to find suitable accommodation in Edinburgh.
"We want to support them throughout this increasingly challenging period and have opened the Accommodation Information Service in collaboration with our Students’ Association."
