This is my update on the housing campaign – everything I have done on housing since starting as VP Communities in June.
Over the summer, I made the “Know Your Rights” booklet which focuses on basic employment and tenancy rights for students to have at hand. Additionally, I have used every opportunity available to meet with relevant parties and advocate for students,
including attending Scottish Housing Day hosted at the University of Stirling on 18 September, which focused on the theme “Homes for Life”.
At this event, I spoke to the Scottish Housing Minister, Paul McLennan, MSP, and raised issues around the lack of affordable housing resulting in students being forced to stay in Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), which is not affordable, or commute from elsewhere: as far as Aberdeen, in some cases. I also asked that the Tenancy Act 2016 be amended to include student housing so that the new Bill does not continue to exclude it.
National Union of Students Lobby Day
On 23 October, I joined Sabbatical Officers across the UK at National Union of Students (NUS) National Lobby Day and met with MPs at Westminster to fight for students. NUS organised a lobby day so that Sabbs could meet with their MPs and push a vote in favour of the amendment proposed by Alex Sobel, MP, which would abolish guarantors as an option in the new Renters Bill. Along with Cameron Fields, President at Herriot-Watt, I first met with Scott Arthur, MP for Edinburgh Southwest. Later, with the NUS Scotland President, I met with Euan Stainbanck, MP Falkirk and Stirling Uni alum.
In addition to explaining and advocating for the need to abolish the guarantor scheme, we raised the fact that Scotland is also in the process of drafting a Housing Bill 2025 and that it would be great if they could speak to MSPs in their party about the need for
positive changes with regards to student housing.
We brought up the fact that students who are often forced into PBSAs due to the guarantor schemes and, with the rise in cost of living, a high number of students need two to three jobs to sustain themselves. As these are often zero-hour contracts, with the Employment Rights Bill restricting these, students would be guaranteed hours.
We also talked about the many issues that international students face with regards to immigration, especially the recent rule changes around dependents. We asked that everything be done to give universities more funding so that international students can be viewed as students rather than purely a source of income.
When speaking to Euan Stainbank, MP for Falkirk, a former student at Stirling, who has Forth Valley College in his constituency, where many students will progress to university at Stirling, I raised the issues around lack of affordable housing in Stirling specifically. I spoke about how the housing sector has gotten worse in the last few years with the private sector nearly doubling in rent in the last four years.
National Housing Week
Throughout the semester, I have been attending bi-weekly calls with a number of Sabbatical Officers across Scotland to plan a housing campaign to match the stages of the Housing Bill 2025. We were one of 15 Students’ Unions/Associations to participate in
National Student Housing Week (11-15 November).
The campaign focused on the fact that the Bill as it currently stands is good because it includes long-term rent controls for private tenancies, new rights to keep pets, decorate rented homes, and stronger protection against eviction. However, the Bill does not go far enough for students because it does not cover stricter regulations and rent controls on PBSAs, does not scrap guarantors, no council tax exemption for the first few months after graduation, and the definition of the tenant is yet to be changed to include all
students. As part of the campaign, we signed the Open Letter to the Scottish Housing Minister, Paul McLennan, MSP, detailing this.
Tuesday 12 November focused on student homelessness, where we put a sofa in Campus Central so that students could come and share their experiences of couch surfing. We found that more than half of those asked had slept on a friend’s couch or hosted a friend on their couch. Many had stayed on a couch for more than a month and one remained homeless for three months. Additionally, many had hosted more than one friend in their home in the last year. Lastly, on Thursday 14 November, NUS hosted a National Student Housing Rally outside Holyrood to fight for better housing conditions for students.
The draft of the Bill has passed, and we will submit amendments in Stage 2 to
ensure that students are better protected.
Feature Image Credit: National Student Housing Campaign
