The Critically Tired Podcast

The lack of affordable student accommodation in Ireland is causing major struggles for students. On-campus accommodation is often plagued with issues such as mold, while off-campus options are expensive and owned by landlords who impose unfair practices. This accommodation crisis is not only affecting students financially, but also socially, mentally, and physically. It is difficult for students to participate in campus events and make new friends when they have long commutes. The availability of suitable accommodation is crucial for students to fully enjoy their university experience. Living with housemates can either be a great source of support or a cause of stress, depending on the relationships formed. Overall, there is a need for improved standards and more affordable options for student accommodation. We all hear the stories about the lack of student accommodation, the struggles in finding suitable places to stay, the housing crisis. But when you live in it, it's a whole new miserable experience. Stories about friends who had to stay in their bedroom and have their items passed in through the window by their family because their digs lady would not let them come inside. Tales of on-campus accommodation being overrun with mould and residents only being told to get a mould spray and sort it out themselves. Accounts of being told to provide landlords with a list of people who will be visiting during the year. Under no circumstances could people other than those on the list visit. And just a few of the horror stories that is the reality of student accommodation. Hi, my name is Rory and I'm studying English, Criminology, Accounting and Criminal Skills. Hi, my name is Anna and I study English, Media, Marketing and Critical Skills. Hi, my name is Zoe and I'm in Arts and I do Media, Marketing, Sociology and Critical Skills. Hi, I'm Laura. I'm doing Criminology, Psychological Studies, Sociology and Critical Skills. So, I'm curious, who lives on campus here? I live on campus. I live down in Reardon. I live in Ribbo, close to my commute, about an hour and a half on the train every day. I live off-campus and commute 20-ish minutes on the train. I live off-campus and it takes me about an hour and a half to commute from South Dublin to here. That's mad, do you drive? No, I just, I get the Lewis and then I get the 115 on the 2T. Oh my god, that's such a long commute. As a group we sat down and discussed the problems caused by the accommodation crisis that we personally experienced at Leighton's Curriculum campus. We were thinking on addressing this issue as we feel bringing this topic to light can help in finding solutions to aid the numerous struggles that students are facing. Our goal is to discuss standard and quality of accommodation and to improve the living standards. To bring the issues and problems to the attention of landlords as the accommodation crisis is well known but has been shockingly overlooked. We also want to discuss in more detail how it can affect the students of different categories, mental health, social and diet. The hopes of us addressing these issues in the podcast is to try invocating changes to better the university experience for students. The need for affordable student accommodation is at an all-time high. With less and less availability and higher prices, we are enduring an accommodation crisis. College students are the main party that suffer from this crisis. They are forced to commute unfathomable hours to attend their universities or to take out loans paid at outrageous asking prices off today's market. Some students have even been forced to defer their courses as they could not afford accommodation to attend college. The Irish Examiner explored a housing crisis in UCD, which is home to the most expensive on-campus accommodation in Ireland. They discussed the problems with the president of the UCD Student Union, Molly Greenough, who said that the accommodation can cost over the €2,000 a month. While these costs are significant, there are more layers to this crisis than simply the rent bill that comes to students each month. This has had immense negative effects on the social lives of students, on their mental health and on their diet. We will explore these factors in our discussion today. So, to start us off, Anna, what's the situation with accommodation in Ireland? How many of these stories that we hear about the accommodation crisis are real-life examples for Irish students? Yeah, so the struggle to find suitable accommodation that's not only livable but also reasonably priced is extremely hard for students today, especially in Ireland, where the housing crisis is just so, so straight. You hear stories on the news all the time about people camping in tents on campus and all, but it's not until you're actually experiencing it yourself that you realise how impossibly tough it is to find a place that's safe to live in for cheap. So many of my friends in Dublin are paying somewhere between €900 to €1,000 for their accommodation, and the standard of it is actually just so basic. And what are the options for students in terms of accommodations? Like, what's actually out there for students to live in? Well, whilst there is a shortage of available options, the Higher Education Authority has actually said that there is a need for 25,000 additional beds for students, and that's only in Dublin, so it doesn't even include other university towns and cities like Maynooth, Galway, Limerick. The accommodation that's actually available tells the thing between two extremes. One is Purpose-Built Student Accommodation, or PBSA, which is essentially luxury accommodation that has so many unnecessary additional features that increase rent. But the other option is find a house, which is nearly impossible to do, and is usually owned by a landlord who often causes a lot of problems experienced by students. And can you explain some of the problems that are posed by these landmarks? So there's been stories about rent being demanded for many months in advance, for students saying that the price is the most privileged ways. This basically means that unless you fit the image the landlord's wanting you to, you won't be considered a potential renter at all. And if you are, predatory practices continue, like overcrowding in houses, lack of privacy, lack of communal areas, no propagation of ventilation, etc. I know a girl who left her on-campus accommodation during the Christmas break and came back to find she was feeling covered in black mold, which resulted in her having an insane chest infarction, and having to go and bounce on to the ostrich chest to solve it. It's really just unacceptable. Students shouldn't have to choose between safe living conditions, or reasonable rent, when looking for places to live. And more than that, landlords and universities should just take more action to improve the places they are offered. And it's more than just rent and health and safety that's important. It all connects the actual experience of students, socially, mentally and physically. Yeah, that's an immensely pressing issue, definitely. Zoe, can you tell us a bit more about these social issues? So the accommodation problem also impacts students socially, as they are trying to attend university. Student accommodation is more than simply somewhere to live, but somewhere to enjoy and feel free and at home during university days. Students need to be able to rely on the fact that they can have a decent place to go and live in during their studies. Living on-campus can be an option to students, or a disaster. Students can be really affected socially when trying to live in accommodation for multiple different reasons. And what are those multiple different reasons? The location of their accommodation can have a big impact on the choosing of where to live for the year versus semester. As a scene, students look for a place to live which can provide opportunities for social interaction, and not just a room over their heads. Yes, the accommodation needs to be a decent shape and be a right fit to live in, but a student is also about making new friends, having people to enjoy the experience with. And as a college student, what experiences do you think these students will be eager to be involved in? There's always a lot of events, clubs and societies held on-campus throughout the year. And I think it's safe to say living on-campus can really benefit students when wanting to participate, as they don't have to worry about the community in and out. I know from my point of view, as someone who lives off-campus, I find it a lot harder to participate in campus events or in making the effort to socialise with people on-campus, as I always have a train to catch. So the availability of accommodation is a real struggle for students who are eager to be involved with college and the social aspect of the university experience. Okay, so guys, I was just wondering, are any of you a part of any clubs or societies on-campus? Yeah, I'm a part of the GAA club for now. I play in Ireland, where I train twice a week. Yeah, I'm in a few societies as well, but I've only been known to Spanish society meetings, because societies and clubs like the film society and kickboxers are on so late, so if I were to go to a movie screening with them, I'd be worrying and rushing to get my bits out. So trying to get home to the city centre at night is not what they do. What about you Zoe, are you in any culture societies yourself? I'm a part of the dance society and train on Tuesdays for introversy competitions. I find it harder to make these trainings if I have to commute back and forth from college and come back in the evenings with a date. Yeah, to be fair, that's like one of the biggest benefits about being on-campus, is that you don't have to factor in commute times or anything. You can literally just get out of bed and walk straight to where you need to go. Yeah, it takes me like five minutes to walk down to the beach for training, that's it. So how does living with housemates affect students, Zoe? The impact of housemates on students' well-being can be a source of immense support or great emphasis. It really depends on who you end up going to with, to be honest, but also essentially the development of relationships between housemates can be seen as really positive impact on students. When you are away from home and learning to live as glad as yourself, it can be really tricky and stressful, especially as you have responsibilities, college work and exactly what you like. So if you're going to live with a housemate, you're going to have to make sure that you're able to confide in housemates and learning to embrace the university experience together sets up a positive atmosphere which can benefit your mental health and socially opens you up to being less introverted and more willing to socially interact and communicate. Well yeah, it's fairly obvious that accommodation is more than just the finances for students, it goes above and beyond that. This leads me to ask, did anyone research this, increased cost of housing have affected the ability of students? Actually yeah, increased student housing costs have decreased a student's diet quality. Students tend to lean towards an imbalanced diet and a major cause of this is a student's housing situation. Inflated housing costs lead to a lack of funds to pay for good quality and healthy foods, such as meat, which is consumed less by students who live on campus. However, students who live on campus consume more fruits and vegetables due to availability. So a student living on campus has less money but more access to fresher and better quality foods, including fruit and vegetables. Students living off campus may have a reduced cost of living but they consume fewer fresh foods and are reliant on more processed and ready-made foods due to less time from commuting. Whether a student is paying unreasonable prices for on-campus accommodation or living off campus due to unaffordable prices or lack of housing, their diet is negatively affected. In South Africa, hunger and diet issues become common towards the end of the year when their funds are depleted. This will impact their ability to study for final exams and will negatively affect their exam results. Okay Laura, so you speak of these good quality foods then, why is it important for students to look after their diets as well as their mental health? Well, diet is actually an essential component of our day-to-day lives and with health such an important topic in today's work, it is vital that we do as much as possible to aid students with their health by making housing more affordable for them so they can prioritise them with their funds towards a healthier diet. Healthy eating also tends to lead to better sleep which helps improve our mental health. Okay, thanks for that and that definitely provides more insight into the extent of this issue. So Laura, now that this is all combined together and impacts the mental health of students, how many people struggle with their finances today? Financial struggles are becoming ever more common amongst people in society today. According to the Irish Examiner in 2023, only a third of the population are quote unquote just getting by. The report was based off 1500 interviews with participants and 33% of all participants said they were just getting by and quote amongst those with primary education or less, this figure rose to over 50%. Okay and what is the link between financial struggles and mental health? When it comes to the link between financial struggles and problems to do with mental health, it doesn't take long to see how they're connected. A UK cohort study found that levels of psychological distress increase when entering university. While this may be partly due to the stress of studying and whatnot, I also believe part of that distress is due to the financial struggles that plague many students. They have to struggle studying, finding a job and if they are renters, dodgy landlords who are the victim at the drop of a hat when they can no longer be financially prosperous or just thought they have the power to. And how can these financial struggles affect your mental health exactly? In America, a college degree costs you somewhere up to $146,000 which I can imagine will put any student into debt even with any job. Then add on to that rent money, groceries and trying to have a social life etc, the toll it can take on students is damaging. The stress and worry of trying to earn enough money to keep yourself alive can end up making you very ill or unfortunately, in some cases, you're getting hospitalised because the toll is just too much. In a Canadian news article, the PCHS Foundation details how international students start taking drugs to cope with the stress of school and trying to adapt to life abroad and also talks about the pressure to earn money to pay back loans that cause. Okay, and can financial struggles impact any other part of student life? A research article suggests that financial stress is one of the leading causes of anxiety amongst college students. Second to academic stress is the support that financial concerns may impact academic success. It's a vicious cycle of non-stop worry and struggle. You worry about finances, it impacts your grades, which then impacts your mental health and you just go in circles while your mental health slowly declines. This must change, otherwise many students' physical health will decline because they cannot handle the strain of financial stress that puts on the mental health of students, which can therefore affect their physical health. So it's obvious under all of that that the relationships between the accommodation, physical, social and mental health are all undeniably interconnected. From discriminatory landlord practices, the diet issues, the range of problems that arise in student accommodation is mad. From beginning to end, the experience that students have today with their accommodation seems to be getting worse instead of better, but there's still a chance to change, to improve, to do better. Calgary has student businesses close to NUID, allowing for more housing for students, a development which could be mirrored by more universities. The government could implement more rules and regulations on landlord prices, meaning that the renting process can be less disastrous for students. A new university only recently opened a pantry, which provides students with a range of free food staples, positively contributing both physically and financially to the student experience. Further solutions to these issues would be more communal areas between buildings and more support for students. The student experience should not be punctuated by these horror stories of accommodation, these worries arising from where you live. College can be tough enough without all these additional issues. Problems need to be taken more seriously by those who can make a change, the government, landlords, universities, so that those who will be making change in the future, that is us, the students, can thrive in college without having to spend valuable time stretching over or campaigning for a better accommodation. Thank you for listening to our podcast today and we hope that some of you out there will be inspired to change the reality of student accommodation. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.