When students come to study in Australia, many find themselves in a rental trap paying expensive prices in the private market or living in overcrowded accommodation. There just aren't enough beds on campus to house all university students yet the push to provide more student accommodation is facing resistance.
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00:00Raj feels at home in his new Adelaide apartment, but his first experience renting as an international
00:07student was less than ideal.
00:09It was a four bedroom house that had been converted to a six bedroom house.
00:13At one point there were nine people living in that house.
00:17It's an all too common experience for those who come to study in Australia, where there
00:20isn't enough student accommodation.
00:23International students are basically cash cows that are milked by the system.
00:27With an election looming and rising political pressure, the government announced a cap of
00:31145,000 international students for publicly funded universities, plus an incentive, go
00:37over the limit but provide more student housing.
00:40If we can get more accommodation and more supply on, although it might be at the high
00:44end of the market, it puts downward pressure on pricing.
00:48Universities have pushed back against the planned student caps, arguing the rental crisis
00:52isn't caused by the post-COVID influx of international students, but rather a chronic
00:57lack of housing supply.
01:00But getting approval for new developments isn't always straightforward.
01:03The University of New South Wales plan for student housing was fiercely opposed by the
01:07local council and neighbouring acting academy, NIDA, which raised concerns about construction
01:13noise.
01:14We already have in Radwick over 3,000 very expensive commercial student accommodation
01:20rooms already approved.
01:23After initially being knocked back, the development was approved in September.
01:26The government is hoping to pass the legislation on student caps before parliament breaks for
01:31the year.