UCC trapped in housing shortage
[dropcap style= boxed]A[/dropcap] recent Daft.ie survey has shown that there has been a reduction of almost 40% in the amount of properties available for students to rent this year. The survey also found there has been a 7.4% increase in the average price of accommodation in Cork City.This makes UCC is one of the many universities in Ireland whose students are facing difficulties in finding accommodation in the new academic year. Recently, there has been lack in available accommodation due to a number of factors, including an increase in the CAO offers accepted by students, an increase in international students and a decline in available properties.
The UCC Accommodation website had only 18 properties, its lowest number since its inception
USI President, Laura Harmon, spoke to the Express on this issue: “The deficit in student accommodation is certainly becoming increasingly evident in many urban areas, including Cork, and students are encountering increasing financial pressure due to rising rent costs.“According to a recent Bank of Ireland study, the cost of college is now at €13,000 per year and the average maintenance grant is €3,025, or €84 per week for academic term. The lack of campus accommodation means that students are renting primarily in the in the private rental sector.”This last statement is particularly true for students in UCC.UCC has one of the smallest numbers of available on-campus accommodation out of all the Irish Universities. Other universities such as UL and UCD have 2,500 and 3,000 rooms respectively, while UCC has only 800. The last on-campus accommodation was built by UCC was University Hall back in 2006.The UCC strategic plan for 2009 – 2012 stated that UCC had planned to increase the amount of on-campus accommodation by 1,000 spaces.The reason why the University has chosen not to build any new on campus accommodation is unclear, however there is no mention of the issue in latest UCC strategic plan for 2013 – 2017 and it seems that UCC has no plans to build any new on-campus accommodation in the foreseeable future. As a result, the majority of UCC students are renting from private accommodation.The UCC Accommodation Office recommends that any students still looking for accommodation visit their office. The Carraigside office has a network of 1,100 landlords across Cork for students to rent from.As of last Sunday, the 14th, the UCC Accommodation website had only 18 properties, its lowest number since its inception. Half of these properties are digs, with a hostel and short-term accommodation also included on the list.Due to the low number of available places, the office is currently running a waiting list for any students still looking for accommodation. Any students that sign up to this list will be sent text alerts when any new room become available.The waiting list was started at the end of August and had 127 names on it. The majority of those students were contacted again in the last week by the Accommodation Office and this number is now down to 3.The office recommends that students try their office before searching on Daft.ie, as all landlords advertised by the Accommodation office have to sign certain terms and conditions and students can flag landlords who break these terms and conditions. They also recommend that any students looking on Daft.ie to be careful not to sign any contracts longer than 9 months, or the length of their stay at UCC.