We are getting used to headlines about student accommodation shortages all over again. This autumn it was the turn of Durham, Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow to be caught in the media’s crosshairs, and they seem somehow surprised about events. Some affected locations have escaped the attentions of the press: Brighton and York also have shortages and others are now getting, at best, very tight supply.[1] These include Bradford (after a decade of a significant surplus), Leeds, Liverpool, London and Newcastle.
But if this all looks like a replay of what happened in the late 1990s, look again. This is not straightforwardly a case of the odd university overshooting its intake target and having to take emergency steps to fulfil their accommodation guarantee. This time round some new things are going on, and they have nothing to do with the long tail of COVID. Hitherto, the impact has been confined to Year 1 students. By contrast, many of the shortages this year are also hitting students entering their second or third years (returning students). In some affected host cities, accommodation shortages are not even connected with increasing student numbers. This blog looks at what is actually going on.
