Student Accommodation Inquiry
Over the last decade, there has been a substantial increase in the number of recorded issues faced by tertiary students arising in residential student accommodation across Aotearoa New Zealand. During this time, we have stood up to the government and tertiary providers, by exposing the systemic issues that exist in this sector. These issues include poor employment conditions and limited training for staff, inconsistent communication from providers, a lack of legislation to protect accommodation users, and rapidly rising fees levied on students that far outpace the rate of inflation.
Covid-19 exacerbated these issues. During the Alert Levels 3 and 4 lockdown, many students across the country were required to continue to pay for accommodation they could no longer access, and in some cases were asked to leave during the lockdown.
NZUSA championed the voices of students students by supporting rent strikes, providing legal advice to students so they could cancel contracts, and mobilising students to demand government action. We demanded that accommodation costs be waived during the lockdown and that there was no cost to students, if they needed to withdraw from their student accommodation.
During the lockdown, we hosted several public zoom meetings that over 300 students took part in. This culminated in our successful campaign for the Education and Workforce Select Committee undertake an independent inquiry into residential student accommodation Aotearoa New Zealand. We believe that an independent inquiry would allow an in-depth analysis of the purpose of residential student accommodation, current managerial structures, and would ascertain how they impact the lives and wellbeing of students residing in residential student accommodation across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Following the launch of this campaign, we supported hundreds of students and students' associations to write submissions. We developed a template submission and hosted information sessions with MPs and student representatives to discuss the issues that students faced in student accommodation.
