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It continues to baffle me that whilst several buses of students were willing to travel to London to protest about changes to higher education very few even seem to know about, let alone care about, the proposed changes to housing in York which will have a much greater effect, particularly in the short-term, on students.
Part of the problem has been that the council has been talking jargon on these issues, such as HMO, C4 and Article 4 in order to try and hide the real issues from students. So I’ll try and explain what these changes are without any such jargon. At the moment, any landlord who buys a house to let it can do so and provide a house for up to six unrelated people to live in, without any interference from the council. Yet the council want to alter this so that any changes to a house to allow it to be let to two or more unrelated people must get permission from the council before being started. The council is doing this so that they can stop any more houses being converted near the universities.
The reason that it’s a problem for students is that the vast majority of students live in houses of three to six unrelated people therefore are likely to come under these new regulations. What’s more is that as the University of York is one of the fastest growing universities in the country it means that demand for houses is going to go up, whilst the supply stays fairly flat - basic economics tells us this will push up rents and decrease choice. Indeed if the City of York Council has their way, rents could increase by 50% over the next few years. This increase in rents may cost students more than the rise in tuition fees does, and they can’t wait until they’re earning to pay the rent back!
But this issue goes deeper than pure economics. It is a highly discriminatory policy which places students as the “underclass” in York. One of the justifications given for this policy is that student areas see higher crime, yet as the council’s own report notes, the main victims of this crime are students. They genuinely want to punish students for being victims of crime. It’s absurd. If this policy were aimed at stopping the spread of houses for any other demographic groups whose presence affects those around them, be it families with young children who make a noise, late-night boxing fans or people who like to make curries - it would be laughed out of the council chamber. But because we’re students we are natural targets for cheap political point scoring.
Indeed for a council to believe it is government’s role to decide who can live in which house is simply laughable. It’s a massive overreach of government. I know my next-door neighbours used to wake me up some mornings because their kids loved to scream, but I never expected the council to tell them where they could live. It’s a shame York’s NIMBY community does not see it that way. They are looking to the government to remove people from their community on the basis of pure prejudice.
Students bring a lot to York‘s community, and, yes, work needs to be done to integrate further with the community. But the council won’t achieve this if it continues to pass discriminatory law after discriminatory law. I am hearing word that there are planned protests outside the council’s meeting on November 1 at 7pm in Hob Moor Community Primary School, Green Lane in Acomb. I hope as many students turn up for that as did for the tuition fees protest.
Great article, nicely cuts through the jargon. It would be great if there were more schemes to integrate the student community more into the general community - volunteering to snow-shovel in winter, little things that show we actually aren't horrible people.
Of course, no one should assume students will be trouble, but where I live on the BAdger Hill estate, there's been increasingly more hostility toward students now that the Hes East campus is expanding. New parking measures have been introduced to 'stop students parking on streets' - I can guarantee that it's NOT student cars that are the problem. I've lived on the estate since start of 2nd year, and I have never, ever heard any noise or anti-social behaviour, but apparently it's a 'massive issue'. Of course, there's no info easily available to tell student residents how they can engage with the community group and address these problems.
The newsletter that get posted through the door also have a divisive rhetoric - it's 'residents' and 'students'. Because students don't count, y'know?
"Indeed for a council to believe it is government’s role to decide who can live in which house is simply laughable."
In response to this I would point you in the direction of the fact that Northern Ireland already has legislation that limits the number of student houses in an area - the Planning (Use Classes) Order 2004 in Northern Ireland.
I would have every sympathy with residents close to York uni, as I'm sure they don't enjoy the fact that the houses around them keep on being bought up by landlords to be let out to students. I'm sure it weakens social cohesion, and I'm also sure it's not particularly nice to have empty homes all around you during the summer months, like a ghost town. Finally of course, it means that when it comes to selling their house it's probably going to be bought by a potential landlord (as not many people would want to live in a predominatly student area), thus perpetuating the increase in student housing concentration.
From my own experience though, York students tend to be very "refined" compared to most, and so it's unfair to blame them for many of the problems that arise.
The issue really boils down to the fact that York uni want to expand quickly, but the uni and council haven't worked properly to plan in advance how on earth all the new students are going to be accomodated! You can decide yourself which of the two should shoulder most responsibility/blame...
If you're really interested Mr Belmore, you might find this of use:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/evidencegatheringresearch.pdf
Mr. Anonymous,
Just because Northern Ireland has controls on student housing doesn't make controls of student housing right.
On your second point: why should students be singled out as those who we can ban where they live. I personally remember growing up to a family with screaming kids being very inconvenient, yet I never expected the council to move them. I am yet to see any reason why students should be treated differently from any other group who one person or the other might not want to live next to?
I think Belmore is absolutely spot on.
I'm not suggesting that because Northern Ireland has controls on student housing means that it is automatically the right thing to do. In Northern Ireland it is certainly needed, especially in Belfast, but York is a very different place, and certainly has a very different kind of student. I just wished to make the point that the policy is nothing new in the UK, and is indeed a policy recommended by the relevant government department.
On the second point, the policy in isolation does not ban students from living in certain areas, but seeks to stop student housing density increasing. There will still be students in the area, just with no or a limited increase in student properties. I think you could quite rightly argue that the council could or may apply the policy in a discriminatory fashion, but that says more about our democratically elected representatives rather than the policy in my view.
I would finally say that possibly a reason for treating students differently from others is because they are a transient grouping. I'm not saying it's a good reason, just a possible reason.
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