The prospect of moving away from home for college is not a freeing one for most, but one riddled with guilt and stress. This sentiment when related to finding accommodation in Dublin does not seem to be alleviating. The broader context of a nationwide housing crisis due to a property bubble that has not been popped adds more pessimism.  The more you look the worse it seems, and absence of supply combined with unaffordability makes this gruelling search a typicality for students in Dublin. 

Nonetheless, the situation seems dismal in terms of public policy, and the implications are damning. In a broader sense, land ownership is at an all-time low amongst young people, and the tradition of immigration is one that readily perseveres through this absence of housing, with 7 out of 10 aged between 18-24 considering it, according to Red C on behalf of the National Council of Ireland.

Government and higher education institutions understand the importance of housing for students. Their reports show the affordability and availability of student housing is absolutely integral not only to students’ social development, but to their retention in education and to their academic performance. The options for students in Dublin seem limited at best. 

 The Government and HEI remedy to the shortfall in supply has not been to implement affordable housing or increase construction, but to allow for international investment funds to swoop in to swiftly meet the urgent demands for housing. The growing role of these international actors is symbolic of a growing pattern that’s visible in nearly every aspect of Irish land and real estate, and it’s looking less and less defensible. 

Between the vultures and the cuckoos it seems a whole host of animalistic private investors have taken a hold of the Irish property market. This is apparent in the realm of student accommodation with the  continued growth of privately owned purpose built student accommodation.  The dilemma remains that there is a lack of infrastructure or policy to create accommodation without these investors. 

Assistant Professor of Economics Ronan Lyons notes the immense shortage of supply in Dublin’s rental market. In his report for Daft.ie, private investors essentially provide an immediate supply to an area that has experienced decreased construction since the recession. This has created  a lucrative market for international investors, and a country that needs them. Since 2016,  our Government has been keen to develop more student accommodation. However when it comes to city-centre universities specifically, international investors are a focal part of this scheme  of producing supply.  The  Government continues to  incentivise these firms with continued tax relief. 

Looking closer this results in near impossible rents for the typical student, with the average sitting at  €250 a week. Their general  defence of this  pricing is an intention to provide quality, modern and “luxury” accommodation for students. A sentiment which seems alien to what most students want – a simple roof over their heads for a manageable price. 

Trinity has even partnered with these capital funds (namely Yugo) to provide further accommodation, with residences like Kavanagh Court priced at over €10,000 per academic year. Furthermore, looking at university owned accommodation this trend is far more apparent, with more and more colleges offering an abundance of more “luxury” accommodation. The government has indeed created more supply, but this supply is extraordinarily expensive. Similarly, it’s important to note the continuing profiteering universities enjoy from student accommodation. Trinity’s new Printing House accommodation costs €13,000 a year, with all pre-existing Trinity owned accommodation rising in prices. 

The inability of universities to provide affordability, and the lack of availability in the private rental sector has only fuelled the growth of “cuckoo fund” backed purpose-built student accommodation.

This leaves students to consider looking to other areas of the private rental market, which itself is facing issues of supply. For a typical student budget this results in living on the outskirts of Dublin, paying cash in hand, with a complete absence of tenancy rights. A quick search online vanquishes any hope of finding something affordable, safe, and relatively accessible. 

 That once assumed goal of a rough around the edges, but affordable student house is now inaccessible to the majority.  The abundance of  Instagram story posts searching for anything, for students the only solution seems to be pure luck.

Ironically, given the government’s aim is to remove students from the private rental sector..   by pushing more purpose built student accommodation, it has only forced those unable to afford PBSA into more unstable and insecure housing arrangements. Whilst tax relief schemes for rent payments have been employed they seem entirely disproportionate to the high rents, which continue to increase.

The government’s current sympathies on the matter seem conflicted, with Leo Varadkar consistently referring to the “mess” that is the housing market as a whole, whilst dismissing the worry of increasing immigration as “the grass is always greener” syndrome. Students in Ireland on average pay more in housing costs than any other student in the EU or UK, a fact Leo loves to forget.  Despite this, current full time students cannot test Leo’s hypothesis, as we are bound to the Irish property market for the course of our degrees. This vulnerability of students in this housing market has been neglected, by both our colleges and by our government. Debt, long commutes and even homelessness are the very real concerns and realities of those trying to pursue third level education in Ireland, and are going to particularly affect the most vulnerable of students.

The gGovernment’s warm welcome to these international investors has had grave and far reaching implications on the Irish property market. There is a “chronic over reliance” on the private sector to afford social housing, notes Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin. We see HAP payments as increasingly the norm for Irish renters, in effect creating a private sector which is subsidised by government as people cannot possibly afford these rents. 

Their defence to the situation is a retelling of the historic implications of the recession, and the lengthy time it will take to see stability once again, emphasising the need for these investors to meet the staggering demands. 

However, government affinity for these “cuckoos”  extends much further than housing, and begins to look much less defensible.  EU and government-backed afforestation efforts, which were designed  to provide an income for farmers in rural communities for otherwise unusable land, have been invaded by cuckoos, disrupting communities without any discipline. 

Earlier this year, Coillte and Gresham House, an internationally active investment fund, launched their joint venture into afforestation efforts. This went uninterrupted, despite the shocking decrease in local farmer engagement that ensued. No considerations were made by the government to the potential socio-economic or environmental consequences of the deal. With farmers and other local developers unable to compete, perfectly good and usable land is being bought by these huge cuckoo owned forests shunting development and growth of local businesses and farms. 

Nonetheless the afforestation scheme has been criticised by environmental scientists for being overly accelerated and antithetical to native biodiversity. However, with the introduction of these actors in the market, this questionable afforestation has only accelerated. 

The reality of the midlands land becoming dominated by these multinationals is heavily concerning, for both the environment and the locals. In these contexts, the broader trend of government indifference to the conduct of these firms is visible. The uncaring attitude to its people is the same in relation to the market of student accommodation. 

The government has allowed private funds like Yugo and Gresham House to swoop in and manage land, housing, afforestation, and even road infrastructure. The common catchphrase embodied by the government, as always, is an intent “to keep bad investors out”, whilst they incentivise their arrival, and seldom inhibit this free market. Land is a huge factor in wealth accumulation, and it’s a struggle to merely rent it, which is telling. 

Protecting the free market is one thing, but the government seems to be relying on these private investors to somehow distribute housing fairly, particularly student accommodation.  The road to “rebuilding” Ireland cannot be equitably paved by international investment funds, but they will be the ones rebuilding it.