If you have decided to live in student accommodation in 2024, good luck. From rent increases outstripping inflation, to hundreds of students sharing one filtered water tap, you’ll have an interesting time.
The housing crisis,a major issue for the past few years, has become horrific. Sydney, already the most expensive city in Australia, has seen a shortage in affordable housing, with landlords raising rental fees by hundreds of dollars per week. Students are one of the most vulnerable groups being subjected to the possibility of homelessness, poverty, and ill-health by this crisis. University accommodation is typically a place where students have a place to feel safe, at home, and comfortable whilst partaking in their studies. During the current cost of living crisis, USyd made the disgraceful decision to raise the weekly rent of the Regiment — one of the main student accommodations on campus — by 6.6% (approximately $20 per week), which is higher than inflation rates.
There is a complete lack of focus on fundamental necessities for the students living at Regiment. Residents say here are multiple instances of neglectful and unsafe living conditions, even with the increased rent from $325 per week to $377 per week in the past two years. To illustrate the average room in the Regiment, these fees provide for:
- A single room the width of the length of a double bed.
- A small fridge (usually with a non-working freezer top).
- Unisex communal bathrooms.
- A unisex communal kitchen (20 gas-top stoves between 660 residents).
- Access to common areas (Games room, music room, terraces, and tea points), with curfews.
- Communal laundry room.
- Frequent accommodation-run events.
Though this list may seem worth the price, the reality of living there as a student doesn’t reflect the fantasy. If a student pays their full rent for USyd’s accommodation, with a minimum wage casual job, they would be required to work approximately 14 hours per week, to pay rent alone. This doesn’t include other expenses such as food, utilities, laundry fees, travel, and other miscellaneous expenses. These hours can be detrimental to student health alongside studying, and can compromise their university priorities. Additionally, many students in accommodation are completing degrees that require unpaid placements to graduate. Unpaid labour can lead to inhumane working hours for no financial support, not to mention excessive travel fees depending on placement location. Furthermore, alongside the increase in rent prices, all Regiment scholarships have been cut, limiting the support given to students.
The building’s conditions have slowly deteriorated over the past couple of years. So where is the money going? The first issue is the lack of maintenance of the filtered water taps. Half the building (floors 5, 6, 7, and 8) are forced to use one filtered water tap between them. The other (non-filtered) tap produces white, bubbling, and lukewarm water. This water takes around five minutes to properly settle and become clear enough for a comfortable drink. The filtered water taps have been broken anywhere from six months to a year depending on the tap. All maintenance requests have been put “on-hold”.
Its not just facility maintenance that has been neglected, but also, contract policies. Student accommodation does not hesitate to threaten students with breaches and termination over minor issues. The most common breaches students receive are for locking themselves out and leaving their doors propped open. If you are unable to get back into your room, there is a $10 fee every time you need assistance in re-entry. Because doors can’t be propped open, the only ventilation in the rooms is a fan and opening windows.
Amid a heatwave of 40 degree days, students were informed that they had to keep their windows shut for around 16 days straight. The students were then warned that portable air conditioners were against Regiment policy, and that people would be breached or terminated if they were found to have one. The Regiment only has air conditioning in communal areas, which automatically turns off around 8pm (when it is still approximately 35 degrees on some days). With little to no ventilation or filtered water, the safety of students suffering from heat-related illnesses was extremely limited.
With the increase in rent and the decrease in standards, student accommodation isn’t a safe and affordable place for students to live. It’s apparent that the University of Sydney seeks only budget cuts and surplus maximisation, and will continue to exploit rural and international students.
In response to the concerns raised in the article a University of Sydney spokesperson responded with the following statement:
It’s vital our students can access safe and affordable accommodation while they’re studying with us, and we’ve increased our financial and other support given the current accommodation and cost of living pressures many are facing. More information about available support is online, and we encourage students to get in touch and see how we can help if they need it.
If residents have any concerns or suggestions throughout their stay, they’re very welcome to get in touch either with our accommodation team and/or the operator so we can properly consider them and take quick and appropriate action as required.
To address some of the points raised in the article:
Our University accommodation remains the cheapest dedicated student accommodation on or near our main campus, substantially below typical student accommodation rents.
At Regiment, all maintenance requests are quickly responded to; this year the operator has received six reactive maintenance requests for fridges and all were either repaired or replaced.
The only common areas that have a 10pm curfew are the roof tops; this is a City of Sydney DA condition to respect our neighbours.
The common area kitchen is open 24/7, and provides access to 38 gas stoves and 2 electric stoves with a total of 88 burners for 620 residents, a ratio of 1 burner per 7 residents.
We know there have been past issues with the filtered Billi Taps and whenever one fails, it’s replaced with a Zip tap within 48 hours (this is the time it takes for a plumber to come onsite and replace it). Filtered taps provide ambient temperature water and are not chilled; water from non-filtered taps may take a moment to come to room temperature on a hot day. Recent testing has not produced “white, bubbling” water as described in the article, but if any residents are concerned we urge them to let us know.
The common area air conditioners don’t turn off at 8pm; they run 24/7 either via sensor or an on/off switch in the space being used.
Over the summer, residents were sent “tips on how to beat the heat”; they were asked to keep windows in common areas closed as these spaces are air conditioned, but weren’t asked to keep their own windows closed– except on one recent occasion, to avoid smoke entering their rooms due to a building fire on Abercrombie Street. On days over 32 degrees, Regiment’s operator also provided additional support including making cold water bottles and icy poles available at all receptions for residents.
For safety and fire hazard reasons, portable air conditioners and other small or portable appliances are not allowed in rooms. Doors to bedrooms are fire doors and by law are not allowed to be wedged open so residents will always be told to keep them closed.
This year we provided funding to help establish “The Pantry” foodbank in Regiment which provides free essential dry goods as well as personal hygiene products for residents to access. Laundry costs were also reduced by 30 percent in 2022 to support residents.
