Welsh student housing is a problem. Spain may be a solution

The Local Government and Housing Committee’s inquiry into privately rented homes is urging the Welsh Government to tackle numerous issues in the housing market to make renting a better experience.

It’s part of a series of inquiries by the Committee aimed at addressing the delivery and availability of appropriate housing in Wales – and students feature throughout.

A clear theme throughout the committee’s inquiry was concern about whether the Welsh Government’s policy, vision and strategy for the private rented sector is sufficiently clear.

For students, a shrinking rental market and increased competition has seen higher rents and substandard living conditions. NUS Wales reported to the inquiry that some are deferring university places due to a lack of suitable housing, and others struggling without a UK guarantor, forcing them to take large loans to pay rent upfront – both real problems in a country struggling with participation rates.

Notably, although luxury student accommodation bed spaces have been increasing in Cardiff, they are often unaffordable. Crucially, the committee heard that even with increased student intake to fill vacancies, most students find purpose-built accommodation unaffordable. Cymorth Cymru and Crisis also noted that stringent financial and pre-tenancy checks by landlords create significant barriers for low-income and vulnerable groups.

The then Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government and Planning (Julie James MS) had told the committee that the Welsh Government had had discussions with universities and relevant local authorities to try and fix it all, but admitted:

“Actually, I have not been terribly successful at this, but I plan to have another go.

Those discussions, it seems, had included urging local authority planning departments to enforce standards in purpose-built student accommodation that would enable its re-use for other tenants. She’d also noted that universities were “rapidly building their own student housing”, and was collaborating with Cabinet colleagues on potential adjustments to the council tax exemption for students:

“In the end, it’s about having a sustainable city with a huge mix of tenures in it, all of which are multipurpose and all of which are sustainable into the long term, so they’re fit for human habitation, they have the right space standards, they have the right facilities and so on. And so, trying to persuade the local authorities that they should adhere to those standards for all types of housing, even where it’s specialist, is one of the main things that we’re trying to persuade them of—I have to say, I can’t say with any particular success so far.

Quite what any of that would do to help with the supply and affordability problems is unclear – maybe her successor (Jayne Bryant MS) will commit to having another go.

Many of the committee’s wider recommendations reflect issues that have appeared in the Renter’s Rights Bill in England. It wants clear timelines for extending the Welsh Housing Quality Standard to other housing types, the development of a property MOT system with Rent Smart Wales, compensating tenants facing no-fault evictions, and ensuring all local authorities join the Leasing Scheme Wales.

There’s also recommendations on regulating tenant application barriers, enhancing tenant rights regarding pets, increasing inspection capacity, and exploring the effectiveness of compulsory purchase powers to address landlord malpractice. And there’s a very sensible recommendation on whether and how a register of accessible accommodation available to rent privately could be introduced.

But I can’t help thinking there’s a version of the departmental silo problem at play when it comes to students.

Back in 2023, the Welsh Government’s Green Paper on Fair Rents and Affordability said that the Welsh Government’s vision was that every person in Wales should be able to obtain a safe, and affordable home that meets their needs for the different stages in their lives.

A White Paper was supposed to follow the Green Paper in the summer – the last we heard, it had been put back to the end of this month. Not long left.

If the White Paper is to live up to its expectations, that “safe, affordable, meets their needs” thing for students can and should be translated into “safe, affordable, reasonably near to campus and is suitable as a space in which to study”.

Once that’s established, the WG will then have to work out whose job it’ll be to make it so when (and it is a when) the magic of the market fails to deliver it all on its own.

Some of that is about coordinating the stimulation of suitable supply. But some of it will have to be about recognising the role of those universities in generating the demand.

In September 2022, Cardiff Met had almost doubled its international students in two years, Cardiff University was holding fairly steady, and USW was busy expanding its Cardiff campus.

What we know about international students is that they’ll need a rented bedspace – and either those universities thought there was plenty of slack on the system, or they were recruiting knowing there wasn’t.

Last week, Spain’s government agreed a protocol aimed at increasing affordable rental housing for students.

It’s co-signed by its Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business.

There’s various bits to it – leveraging public land for university accommodation, financial mechanisms to support public universities in developing housing solutions, and a €4 billion loan fund to expand affordable rental options, as agreed by the Council of Ministers.

A monitoring committee will oversee the initiative’s progress, with representatives from the involved ministries and financial institutions like the Official Credit Institute (ICO).

Wales may have similar regulation to England, but it’s hardly as if the country’s politics is pointing towards unplanned marketisation. The idea that Medr will have a role in strategically planning HE, but not in causing at least some planning over the infrastructure required to house students is daft.

If a country as large as Spain can have a plan, it really shouldn’t be beyond the Welsh Government to join up some government in a similar way.