Daft’s Irish Rental Report Q2 2022, authored by Dr Ronan Lyons of Trinity, was published on August 10th. The report revealed that there were a mere 716 homes available for rent in Ireland, 292 of which were in Dublin. Exactly a year previously, in the Q2 2021 report, there were 2,455 homes available to rent in the country, a figure that Lyons had then described as “an extraordinarily low figure for a country of Ireland’s size”.
This report confirmed the fears of many people across the country – Ireland’s already dire housing crisis had gotten even worse.
Looking to see just how bad the crisis is and how it has impacted students, The University Times spoke with three students about their experiences with finding accommodation before the academic year and whether they had been able to find a place for the year.
Maisie Greener, a second-year English studies student, explained that at the time of the interview, she had only just found accommodation at Point Campus, a private accommodation complex for students located in North Dublin. “I’m living in Point Campus with three others, we got really lucky and we’re in a flat together, but there are going to be four other people not in our party also living in the flat.”
“We did have to go quite a bit over our budget, and really fortunately we all had parents who were willing and able to contribute that bit more, but I fully understand that’s a very privileged position to be in, and that for the majority of people that flexibility is not there.”
Most people have signed leases for next year by Christmastime or January during their first year of uni, and they can get houses up to eight, nine, 10 bedrooms really easily.
The contract for her accommodation only covers this academic year as she is on a 40-week contract, meaning that she will have to either find new accommodation next year or renew her contract with Point Campus.
She also added that she has quite a few people in her initial group who had not been able to find accommodation at the time of the interview. Having started looking for accommodation with friends in November in the form of a five-bedroom house, she was met with difficulties as they were unable to find anywhere within budget that could take them.
“Myself and two of the other people in the group are Brits and it’s a wildly different experience trying to get university housing in the UK compared to Ireland. Most people have signed leases for next year by Christmas time or January during their first year of uni, and they can get houses up to eight, nine, 10 bedrooms really easily.”
“I didn’t really have an understanding of quite how bad the Dublin housing crisis was”, she said.
When asked about commuting, Greener said that ideally she and her group “were looking at a maximum 40-minute journey into college” to save on transport costs.
Accommodation should never be the reason why we have to take a gap from college. That should be one of the guarantees.
“We’d been lucky enough to get Trinity Hall accommodation in first year, so that was maybe a half hour journey into college every day, but compared to some other universities where the lecture theatres and labs are on the same campus as the accommodation, that felt like a bit of a journey to me and I didn’t want to be massively further away.”
“I didn’t realise quite how much travel for Ireland [sic] ate into my budget.”
Greener also explained that she had assumed for most of first year that they would be able to find a place to live and maintained an “ignorance is bliss” attitude. “I really didn’t have a concrete understanding of quite how bad the housing crisis is”, she said.
“Myself and my friends just kept repeating this refrain of ‘it’s all gonna work out, there’s no way we’re not going to have somewhere to live’, and then by August time it was really looking like we were not going to have a place to live.”
“In my group there’s only one person that is actually Irish and they would not be able to commute to college, then we have a couple of Brits and an American, so it was a case of can we go to college or do we have to take a year out.”
Our disbursements don’t even come through until the semester has already started so we are left to our own devices until the money comes in.
“Accommodation should never be the reason why we have to take a gap from college. That should be one of the guarantees”, she said. “There are so many other things to be anxious about and you’d hope that having a roof over your head is not one of those things.”
A number of students who spoke with The University Times have argued that Trinity has not adequately supported its students who are struggling with the challenges brought on by the crisis.
Thena James, a final-year philosophy student from the US, said in an email that Trinity has repeatedly denied her housing and, in the past, has not allowed her to borrow enough money to stay elsewhere. James lives exclusively off her student loans while also working part-time.
“Trinity has denied me housing for three years in a row. This is also the first year in three years that Trinity has allowed me to borrow enough money to cover the cost of my off-campus accommodation. Each of the previous years they only allowed me to borrow the amount equivalent to accommodation at Trinity, which we all know is significantly less than accommodation outside”, she said.
“This meant that I had to use money meant for food to try to cover my accommodation. I also have to pick places to live that will accept my student loan payment timelines”, James added.
I am now upwards of $150,000 USD [sic] in student debt from the four years of my undergraduate degree at Trinity. Something needs to be done.
“We only get disbursements twice per year, so paying monthly rent is impossible anywhere else. Our disbursements don’t even come through until the semester has already started so we are left to our own devices until the money comes in, which means desperately trying to eat and support ourselves until it arrives.”
She also commented on the lack of communication from Trinity throughout the pandemic regarding online learning. James says she could’ve saved a considerable amount of money had she been notified earlier that all classes would be online for the 2020/2021 academic year.
“Because of the extreme cost of living and accommodation, for the past two years I have had to leave my accommodation early, before the end of the semester, to move back home to the US because I could not afford to continue paying for my rent and groceries. This is all money I could have saved if Trinity had told us in advance that because of covid we could have stayed in our home countries to study online. I am now upwards of $150,000 USD [sic] in student debt from the four years of my undergraduate degree at Trinity. Something needs to be done.”
Brian*, an incoming second-year BESS student at Trinity, is one of countless students who have been forced to deal with several different challenges as a result of this crisis. From a low-income background, Brian feels his difficult financial situation is not being accommodated by Trinity.
Brian moved to Cork with his family in 2017 from the Republic of Moldova and is the oldest of three children, with both of his parents working relatively low-paying jobs. Knowing he wanted to eventually attend Trinity, Brian took on a part-time job as a binman for two years during secondary school in order to save up for his move to Dublin. During the summer holidays, he worked up to 50 hours and worked weekends throughout sixth year while studying for his leaving certificate. Even with this demanding commitment, Brian achieved an impressive 577 points in the leaving certificate in 2021 and was offered a place in BESS at Trinity.
I had found a place in Dublin for me and my girlfriend to move in. I managed to pay off some of my loan. I was working a pleasant job for a fair wage.
Despite his diligent saving throughout secondary school, a large portion of his savings ended up having to be used to financially support his family.
In September 2021, he moved to Dublin to start university. That summer, Brian had gotten a job as a technical support agent providing customer service over the phone. Despite the low hourly wage, he was able to work remotely and had flexible hours. He was able to save a small sum of money which would cover him for his first month of living in Dublin, and he took out a loan to cover tuition.
Brian worked 20 to 30 hours per week to maintain a living, earning approximately €900 a month. But he struggled to make ends meet. His rent for a small room in Dublin 3 was €600 (increased in April 2022 by €50). Food was around €100 per month, and transport another €150. Additionally, Brian had his student loan payments that were €90 per month. His parents were able to give him €100 to €200 a month in financial assistance but could not afford to give him any more.
He was denied student financial support avenues such as SUSI and TAP as his wages combined with his parent’s income puts him over the qualifying threshold for these programmes.
Brian received support from his TA throughout the year who helped him get extensions and exemptions for assignments whenever needed due to his demanding work hours.
Despite this plea from his TA, Brian was informed by the College that there was no such possibility for him to self-study. The only option he was given was to take a year off-books.
In May, just before the end of term exams began, Brian was evicted from the room that he was renting. He detailed a tense situation with his landlady in which he was locked out of the house after 11pm. Brian says he “felt unsafe” about coming home and cooking because of the conflict. As a result, he was forced to eat out more, exacerbating his already unstable financial situation.
After he was evicted, Brian was forced to move back to Cork. He lost his job as his parent’s house didn’t have broadband, which was required for him to work remotely, and he was left with credit card debt of €200 per month and €3,400 in student loan debt.
After the exams in May, things started to look up for Brian when he secured a position as a research assistant in Trinity. He was also offered a position at Accenture PLC, a large multinational company based in Dublin. The job would provide him with health insurance, a full time salary and a potential position after graduation.
As Brian described it: “It finally seemed like I found a way out of financial struggle.”
“I had found a place in Dublin for me and my girlfriend to move in. I managed to pay off some of my loan. I was working a pleasant job for a fair wage”.
In my Junior Fresher year I was living on an income of less than 12,000 per year while working 25 hours per week. I was living under the poverty line.
Brian contacted his tutor about the possibility to “self-study” so that he could continue to work full-time and study in his own time, without being required to attend lectures or seminars. He would submit the necessary coursework and sit the exams at the end of the semester.
However his tutor told Brian “she did not know of such a possibility” and told him to ask the Senior Tutor for clarification.
Brian’s TA emailed the Senior Lecturer on his behalf, highlighting the impossibly difficult situation he was being put in by not being allowed to “self-study”.
“From my communication with you and the Senior Tutor’s office, it looks like there are no scholarships or grants that could be available for students like [Brian]. The only solution that both your and the Senior Tutor’s office have offered is that [Brian] goes off books for one year to improve his financial situation”, she said in her email.
However, despite this plea from his TA, Brian was informed by the College that there was no such possibility for him to “self-study”. The only option he was given was to take a year off-books.
We’re a country that prides ourselves in education and what we’re actually doing is robbing our young people of that education.
Brian says this decision by College to not allow him self-study will directly jeopardise his future: “In my Junior Fresher year I was living on an income of less than 12,000 per year while working 25 hours per week. I was living under the poverty line”.
“If I were to go on a ‘degree-by-examination’ where I would be able to ‘self-study’ I would be able to study, work and meet the minimum living standards in Dublin. By refusing to provide substantial help, either by providing alternative options or taking into consideration my idea, [Trinity] are directly jeopardising my studies, well-being, and future prospects”, he explains in his email.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) recently called for a hybrid learning model to be implemented for those who are without accommodation in Dublin and are being forced to commute.
The proposed model would let students have the choice to attend lectures, seminars and tutorials in person or online in a similar manner to the contingency measures that have been put in place for students who cannot attend classes due to COVID-19.
Provost Linda Doyle spoke to RTÉ Radio One in August, describing the accommodation crisis as “robbing young people of their education”.
We see for example, when it comes to students coming to Ireland from other countries, deciding maybe not to go to Ireland, that it’s not for them because while the education might be great, if you can’t find a place to live, you can’t avail of it.
“It is a real crisis, there’s huge anxiety amongst students and there’s no end of people telling us really difficult stories about how hard it is to find accommodation. We’re a country that prides ourselves in education and what we’re actually doing is robbing our young people of that education.”
“If you are commuting long distances, or if you’re living in really expensive accommodation, and has to work all the extra hours that exist, you can’t focus on your study, but not alone, that you can’t get the wider benefits of college mixing with your peers, joining clubs and societies, and developing all of those kinds of life skills that people deem so important.”
The Provost said that Trinity is “doing everything they can do” and recently encouraged alumni living in the area to offer spare rooms to students.
The Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) has also expressed concern over Ireland’s reputation abroad as an education destination due to the ongoing accommodation crisis.
ICOS Executive Director Laura Harmon said that “the student accommodation crisis is impacting Ireland’s reputation abroad”.
She also commented that there will be “serious ramifications” for Ireland’s higher education sector and economy if “urgent action is not taken”.
This statement from ICOS followed a warning issued by the French Embassy in Dublin warning people relocating from France to Ireland about the ongoing housing crisis.
*Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.
