Accommodation is seen as the biggest cost-of-living challenge faced by young people and students, according to new research published by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI).
Just over 90 per cent of people aged 18-24 said rent and the wider cost of housing was the biggest issue they faced with the figure slightly higher, at 93 per cent, among those from rural areas.
Costs, the council says, along with the acute shortage of accommodation, are forcing many students returning to college this month to make long daily commutes to third-level institutions around the country.
Franek Dobronski, a 19-year-old from Carlow town who volunteers with the youth organisation, says his days at Dublin City University (DCU) start at 5am and generally end in time to catch a train home.
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Dobronski, who is studying climate and environmental sustainability, says he had on-campus accommodation costing about €800 a month last year due to the university’s policy of prioritising first years. However, he now finds himself taking a train from his home town each morning and then taking a bus to the Drumcondra campus from Heuston.
“It takes about two hours if there are no delays on the train and the traffic is okay,” says Dobronski. He is trying to maintain his involvement in a number of college societies and the rowing club, despite the demands associated with travelling.
On days when he has early lectures, he is up at 5am to catch a 6.30am train and then generally finds himself on the 6.35pm train home. After that departs, the options are limited to an 8.20pm train or a couple of buses, the second of which leaves at 1am.
“If I have something on in the evening there are those options,” he says, “but there is the chance that there might be early morning training for the rowing and that would mean having to crash with friends.”
He is grateful he says, for student travel prices that mean he can complete the round trip five days a week for about €200 a month, a fraction of what he was paying for his accommodation last year. However, he would still love to get a room at DCU as cancellations create a small number of vacancies over the coming weeks, however unlikely that might be.
Renting privately was more or less out of the question, he says, despite his parents being very supportive. “It’s not just the cost, it’s that there just aren’t enough places,” he says. “I’ve been lucky, I suppose, in that my commute is a sort of doable distance and I was probably the main driver behind saying I would do it and try to uphold my student life and studies.”
He is, he says, still getting to grips with the practicalities of it all. He would like to see the Government do more to address the issue of student accommodation - and fees, a related issue he says impacts on access and affordability.
The NYCI says Dobronski’s experience is far from unique. It points to other students still scrambling for places in an over-subscribed and expensive private rental market or, in some cases, coping with even longer commutes.
Its research, published on Wednesday, found two-thirds of young people surveyed, aged 18-24, believed they would be better off in other countries with 31 per cent of those saying they are “strongly” considering a move away.
The number of respondents citing accommodation as a major cost-of-living challenge for young people in the survey, which was carried out by Red C over the summer, is up slightly on last year.It is well ahead of the 60 per cent who pointed to college fees as a challenge and 47 per cent who mentioned the cost of food and groceries.
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Amid growing economic security, NYCI’s director of policy and advocacy, Kathryn Walsh, says the Government needs to use the budget to help address some of the issues highlighted, by providing additional supports and abolishing the sub-minimum wage.
“They are navigating rising costs in housing, education and daily essentials, while also confronting a future that feels increasingly out of reach. If we fail to act now, we risk losing a generation of talent and resilience to emigration and exclusion.”
