There is a new wave of student activism building and its focus isn’t tuition fees. With many students priced out of education due to rising living costs, campaigners are calling for tenants’ rights and affordable housing.



Inspired by recent grassroots campaigns such as E15 and New Era, activists and council housing tenants are taking on developers and local authorities around the country. And students are getting organised: taking action on and off campus to demand a fairer deal on accommodation costs. If they don’t, they say, future generations could be priced out of higher education altogether.

In Scotland, where housing prices are rising fastest, campaigners are calling for a living rent, and a limit to what landlords can charge. It was Margaret Thatcher who scrapped rent controls in the late 80s, when local authorities used to employ housing officers who had a say in rents. Now, activists in Scotland are asking a different Margaret, namely Burgess, the Scottish minister for housing; to bring them back.

Kirsty Haigh, vice president of NUS Scotland, recently helped organise a rally outside the Scottish parliament. “We saw people from Ayr, Glasgow, and Fife come together to fight skyrocketing rents. In just a few weeks, we collected 2,000 consultation responses. The message was clear: rent hikes will lead to rent strikes,” she says.

Payment refusal is a powerful threat – students make up a huge proportion of the private rented sector in many cities.

Research by the Resolution Foundation has found that almost 4m people are spending more than 33% of their wages on rent; many of these renters are young. Unlike other low-income renters, students are not eligible for welfare payments – such as housing benefit – on the basis that they are on full time courses, despite student maintenance loans falling well short of a full-time salary.

In fact, the average student let amounts to 95% of the maintenance loan available – leaving just 5% for everything else.

In Sheffield, students are using the general election to influence policy makers. Tom Harrison, welfare officer at the University of Sheffield’s student union, says: “While the government refuses to invest in social housing and continues to slash housing benefits, we need to improve tenants’ rights and reintroduce rent controls.”

Even within the university, the cost of accommodation is a problem – with the price of halls accommodation rising faster than inflation. The cheapest rooms have rise by 11% over a three year period. “It is crucial to have student representation when rent setting as it allows us to help end the influence of large private providers,” says Harrison.

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At City University, students living in halls run by accommodation providers Pure had to move in while building work was still being done, and had no access to freezers and other amenities. Rima, president of the student union, knocked on hundreds of doors to organise a rally to demand compensation.



“Pure didn’t take me seriously. They don’t see this as a representation issue and portrayed student dissatisfaction as isolated case,” she says. “This was at a time when their portfolio was reportedly about to go up for sale for £500m, and the sector was brashly referring to their students as Pure gold.”



Rima believes students’ worth is more than economic, though: “We actually hold a lot of power, and can quite vocally hold these companies to account,” she says. “When students start to challenge them, we can get what we deserve.”

A spokesperson for Pure says: “We have been communicating with our residents throughout a temporary period of disruption which was caused by unforeseen overruns in the construction timetable agreed with our building contractor. Virtually all the building works have now been completed and we are ensuring that any residual works will be undertaken in a very controlled manner to minimise disruption.”

At University College London, students are calling for a cut in rents. Prices have gone up by an average of 5% each year in accomodation that is majority owned by UCL.

David Dahlborn, an elected halls rep, believes that the university is acting like a business, rather than in the interests of his fellow tenants: “UCL doesn’t seem to take our cost of living into account when they set their rent. It is more concerned about competing within the market.”

But UCL claim their rent rises are not disproportionate to the London rental market. A spokesperson for the university says: “We are aware of the [students’ campaign] and are in dialogue with the student union about this. While there will be some increase in rents this is not expected to be as high as in recent years and remains competitive for central London living.”

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The halls residents have been organising, and last month decided to take the battle straight to management. “When the head of accommodation refused to meet with us, we sat on the floor and waited for him. At first it seemed as if he would just ignore us, but in the end he stayed to debate,” says Dahlborn.

Most universities do not include student reps in the rent-setting process; but as prices reach a tipping point and many are unable to afford the rents, students are fighting back. In Lancaster, a similar initiative has been set up as students protest a 2.5% rent increase.

In London, a host of groups are organising a march to demand rent controls and an end to scapegoating migrants. Student groups will be protesting under a banner of “no free education without affordable accommodation” – tying the campaign to the recent national demonstration. The march will descend on City Hall at the end of the month, followed by a Rent Freedom Day and week of action in February.

Whether it’s more affordable halls, decent standards in the private sector or a full-scale rent control scheme; the momentum for better tenants’ rights is growing – and it is grassroots activists and students at the forefront.

Join us and host Rick Edwards to debate housing on Friday 24 April at Bristol University. Tickets cost just £5. Find out more here.

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