Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

63. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the new provisions he is putting in place to ensure affordable rents for students in view of the spiralling rent costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6442/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am very conscious of the challenges faced by students in relation to student accommodation, and my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are working closely together to address these issues.

The Government has taken measures to address affordability and rent increases. Rent increases in student accommodation are capped under the Rent Pressure Zones. Legislation passed this year restricts the amount that students can be required to pay up front for their accommodation, ending the practice whereby students were required to pay a lump sum up front each term, often in the range of €2,500 to €3,500.

However, fundamentally this challenge is one of supply and we need to increase the supply of all types of housing and accommodation, including student accommodation.

That is why the Government has launched Housing for All, led by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This sets out a series of actions which will be delivered to address the housing crisis. The plan is backed by the largest ever housing budget in the history of the State to transform our housing system, in excess of €20bn.

Housing For All contains a commitment to support technological universities to develop purpose-built student accommodation where such a requirement exists, through access to appropriate financing.

Supporting technological universities in this area will lead to an increased supply of student accommodation and improve technological universities’ offering to prospective students. My officials are working with colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to progress this commitment.

Significant work is also taking place across the sector on planned student accommodation developments and my Department is engaging intensively with institutions and the Department of Housing. Local Government and Heritage to promote an increased supply of on-campus student accommodation.