Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 September 2023
78. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he deems it appropriate for universities and colleges to increase their cost of accommodation for this academic year while the country experiences a cost-of-living crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40450/23]
View answerGiven the cost-of-living crisis we are in, and the very real financial hardship and stress that many students and their families are in, does the Minister think it is appropriate for universities and colleges to increase the cost of student accommodation for this academic year?
I thank the Deputy for his question. Of course, our universities need to operate under the law, as does everybody else. We brought in rent pressure zones, RPZs, which universities are covered by. Any time it has ever been suggested to me that those rent pressure zones should be lifted or changed, or exemptions made for universities, I have not been supportive of it and that will continue to be the case. I am acutely aware of the difficulty faced by students regarding the affordable supply of student accommodation. I outlined to the House some of the steps we are taking to try to develop more student accommodation.
To be self-critical, we have relied on the private market for too long. We have also relied on universities to use their own resources to build student accommodation. We are now getting involved in a very direct way in that €61 million of taxpayers' money was pledged in November to build 1,100 student accommodation units.
In return for us investing that, we have demands around affordability. That gives us a lever that we quite frankly did not have when the State did not invest money before. We now see students going back to college, with 938 more student accommodation beds this September than last September. There are also 2,000 more private accommodation beds.
Higher education institutions that provide student-specific accommodation are under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board. They must comply with the law of the land governing rent reviews. Legislation was introduced in this House in 2021 to cap rent increases at a maximum of 2% in RPZs, in circumstances where general inflation is at a higher level. The majority of our universities and colleges are located within RPZs and have to comply with relevant legislation regarding potential increases. I am trying to use the levers at my disposal to try to assist students by making sure that if there is any improvement or enhancement to the rent tax credit, students must benefit in relation to that.
We are also providing €440,000 to our universities specifically for any student who may find themselves in financial difficulty arising from their housing or student accommodation situation. That is a new measure we have put in place this year. We are also looking at how we can make improvements in relation to fees and grants in the budget in a couple of weeks’ time. I am aware of the law of the land in relation to the RPZs. I expect everyone to comply with that. Some universities have reduced the cost of rent. Some have increased it. Within those confines, I am trying to use the practical measures at my disposal to help students with the cost of living and the cost of accommodation.
Am I to take it from what the Minister has said that it is his view that it is appropriate to have increases, as long they comply with the RPZ legislation? As I am sure the Minister is aware, there is huge stress on students, as well as mental health and well-being issues for students who cannot find affordable accommodation. There are ever-longer commutes. This has impacted students’ education. It is also impacting student choice because students increasingly feel that they can only apply to the college closest to them and do not have the range of choice of different third level education institutions around the country.
Some providers of student accommodation are circumventing the RPZ rules by not increasing the rent above the levels permitted under those rules but introducing additional charges which are not discretionary and which the students must pay. What are the Minister and the Government doing to address that and to stop the circumventing of the RPZ rules?
My answer is factual in the sense that I have to work within the laws of the land. Within the law of the land, higher education institutions are autonomous institutions that are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs. I have responsibility for making sure we put measures in place to help students with the costs of going to college, including the cost of rent. I recognise that the costs of rent and accommodation are now the biggest costs that any student will face when going to college. That is why I worked to make sure students could avail of the rent tax credit, as could their parents. We need to see a tweaking of that. The parents at the moment cannot avail of it if the student is in digs, but only the students. Some students do not earn enough to draw that down. I would like to see that being fixed in the budget. I would also like to see the rent tax credit perhaps being doubled in the budget. Crucially, I want to increase accommodation. We have already identified 1,100 units that we will subvent. When we are spending taxpayers’ money, we put in place clear rules around affordability that have not existed up until now.
On foot of this question, I will ask my Department to carry out an analysis for me of any of the hidden costs or additional charges that are being imposed on students. If the Deputy is saying to me that people are trying to find other ways of hiking up the rent outside of the spirit of the law that was passed by this House, that is something I would take a very dim view of.
I thank the Minister for that response. This has been well documented. There is evidence of student accommodation providers clearly circumventing the RPZ rules with additional costs. It is not for discretionary items they can choose to opt into or opt out of.
Sure.
They cannot rent their accommodation without paying those additional charges that have been increasingly introduced. They are a way for large providers to get around these rules. It has been brought to the attention of Government Ministers before. This urgently needs action. I welcome that the Minister says he will look into it-----
I will.
-----but it urgently needs to be addressed, because this is going against the spirit of the law, if not the actual law. The Government needs to take a view on this and act on it. It must either change the legislation or, if the legislation is robust enough in this area, it must enforce it.
I want to thank an Teachta Cian O'Callaghan for tabling this question. It is something we have seen over the last number of weeks and days. Students have been coming together and clearly protesting any increases in the cost of student accommodation. This is not only for themselves, but they are showing solidarity for others and solidarity for the future. That is really powerful and strong and it highlights the benefits of that kind of protest.
We have also seen, as Deputy Cian O'Callaghan has mentioned, some universities bringing in extra charges. I said that the contribution charge was a fee under any other name and, to me, this is an additional rental accommodation charge under any other name. Again, my big concern is that it continues to lock people out of third level education. I am aware that it is a result of the wider housing crisis we are seeing, and how it is impacting so many families. That in itself is impacting people’s ability to go to third level education. We are seeing this so clearly for our student population.
I fully accept the challenges, and do so against a context and a backdrop of really high levels of participation rates in third level education. I am trying to take a number of steps to provide more pathways and opportunities, including providing universities in the regions. The idea that everyone has to move to a big city means that there can be a last-minute scramble, which causes some challenges. Indeed, it can cause a dearth of a younger population in a region as well.
When I answer these questions, it often highlights the need to have more college-owned, State-owned student accommodation. I would be misleading the House if I suggested that this is anything other than my policy desire. We need to have more college-owned student accommodation because that provides us with levers in terms of the design. I often meet with students who tell me they do not want to be paying for the frills.
Student unions tell me this all the time. We are going to standardise the design. You can build whatever student accommodation you want, but if we are investing in it, it will have to fit into one, two or three types of design. Students are inputting into that process, and we will have the output of that early next year. Once we invest, we have a right to have conversations about affordability in return for that investment.
