Accommodation crisis forcing students back to traditional lodgings

Third level students are being forced to live in ‘digs’ up to 10 miles away from college, because of massive demand for accommodation and rising rents in Galway City.
Cash-strapped students are now faced with the choice of living as a lodger in cheaper accommodation or face the very real prospect of being unable to afford to accept a college offer.
Already, student leaders are dealing with unprecedented levels of people unable to find affordable accommodation here, and a new report from property website Daft.ie has recorded an average increase of 6.7% in rent over the past year.
Now, students are opting for digs – which includes utilitiy bills, breakfast and dinner covered by the homeowner – for around €65 per week, rather than apartments and house-shares.
And with no new residential construction expected to get underway in the city soon, it could be up to five years before supply catches up with demand.
The shortage – coupled with rent rises – has now become so acute that some students are having to move into traditional digs, which had become a thing of the past.
And with an increasing number of homeowners near GMIT and NUIG opening their doors to cash-strapped students, some digs being advertised are as far away as Clonboo – eight miles from GMIT. The Students’ Unions at both of the city’s third level institutions are already inundated with pleas for help from students.
Declan Higgins, President of the NUIG SU told the Galway City Tribune: “An awful lot of people are having difficulty finding accommodation this year.”

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.