TUS Athlone student accommodation crisis highlighted in Brussels

TUS Athlone Students' Union representatives were guests of Midlands-North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly, at the EU Parliament in Brussels, where they outlined the growing student accommodation emergency across the Midlands region.

Joining MEP Mullooly was Dara Lenihan President of the TUS Student Union and his colleagues Malcolm McDonagh and Gearóid Folan.

Dara Lenihan, delivered a powerful personal testimony to the Housing Crisis Committee, of which MEP Mullooly is Chair, describing the severe impact of housing shortages on students’ ability to access higher education and participate in university life.

“In Ireland this crisis is not a headline, it is a daily reality. Students are couch-surfing, commuting hours every day, sleeping in cars or deferring their studies because they cannot afford to live near their college. The dream of higher education, something we rightly call a public good, is being priced out of reach," Lenihan told the Committee.

Commenting further to the HOUS Committee Dara Lenihan said that, “the European Union can help by setting affordability benchmarks, incentivising social impact models and protecting student housing from speculative pricing...when young people cannot afford to live, they cannot afford to study, to work or to build families in their home regions. That is not just a social crisis, it is a competitiveness crisis for Europe.”

Lenihan presented the findings of TUS’ own recent 'No Room for Learning' survey of over 1,200 students, which found widespread long commutes, falling attendance and cases of students considering dropping out due to housing costs.

He called for EU support for publicly-built, genuinely affordable purpose-built student accommodation, and for student housing to be embedded in regional planning.

Responding, MEP Ciaran Mullooly said the young people affected by this crisis “deserve far better than the delays and indecision they are witnessing.”

“A staggering 46% of students are commuting one to two hours each way because they simply cannot find accommodation.

“This is affecting their studies, their mental health and, ultimately, our regions’ ability to retain talent. We are losing graduates not just to better jobs abroad, but to cheaper rent abroad," Mullooly said.

Mullooly reiterated his call for stronger EU action by way of funding to support the construction of affordable student accommodation and for a framework allowing universities to borrow directly to build housing.

“It's an issue I've highlighted myself in my amendments to the housing report. I propose we must incentivise the development of affordable student accommodation near third level institutions. It's done in some cases.

“For some reason, new technological universities are not being enabled to build accommodation at scale, there is a snobbery and a policy blockage that must be removed.

“The Government’s student accommodation strategy has again been delayed. We cannot wait another year. Europe has recognised this as a priority, now we need delivery.”

Mullooly urged the European Commission to make student housing a central pillar of its upcoming Affordable Housing Plan.

“Students deserve the chance to learn, live and build their futures in their own communities. We must act now," Mullooly concluded.