At present there are no grants available to the HEI sector for the development of purpose built student accommodation. I have established a dedicated student accommodation unit in my Department to develop and implement a student accommodation policy alongside the Higher Education Authority. Since taking up office, my Department officials and I have engaged and continue to engage on an ongoing basis with the Minister and Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the wider higher education sector, and other key stakeholders on student accommodation issues.
I am actively working to address the supply of student accommodation. Increasing costs of construction and financing are impacting on viability, and as a result a number of Universities had to pause their projects. In responding to these challenges, in November 2022, Government approved development of both short and medium term policy responses to activate supply.
These landmark policy responses will see the State providing financial support for the construction of student accommodation so as to ensure increased availability and promote greater access in particular for student groups in line with the National Access Plan, and underpin the policy commitments set out in Housing for All.
In the short term, Government has approved funding to the sum of €60.1m to support the development of 1,065 beds for students of the University of Limerick, Dublin City University, Maynooth University and the University of Galway which have planning permission granted but had stalled. The support will be a mixture of capital grants in 2023 and 2024 for new accommodation developments on campus and current ongoing funding for annual lease arrangements off campus.
My officials are also examining potential developments at UCD and TCD, and UCC also has proposals in development.
The Government agreed to support the development of a medium term evidence informed strategic policy to stimulate appropriate supply of student accommodation. This will include the development of standardised design specifications and guidance for future developments. This will also be informed by ongoing analysis across Europe and internationally for best practice for the delivery and management of student accommodation.
The Department and Higher Education Authority (HEA) are engaging closely with the Higher Education sector to define and gather accurate, relevant and informative data related to student accommodation, to inform future policy development and responses.
Support of €1m is also being provided to our Technological Universities (TUs) to conduct a needs assessment and my Department is examining the development of a TU Borrowing Framework in conjunction with other Government Departments, as part of the range of student accommodation initiatives underway.
As part of the medium term response my Department are exploring a variety of options to bring on stream additional units. The long-term data driven, evidence based strategy is currently being developed to provide solutions to the student accommodation crisis. This will include an assessment of a range of options to deliver additional supply of affordable accommodation for our students. My officials are open to engaging with any institution which has a proposal on additional affordable supply. I intend to bring an update to Government on this strategy in Q3 2023.
