Int’l Students Struggle to Find Affordable Housing in Australia, Universities Call on Staff to Provide Rooms

International students are rushing back to Australia in large numbers following the end of the pandemic restrictions era. However, these students are now struggling to find affordable accommodation in the country, particularly in Melbourne, due to a drop in the number of rental vacancies.

To help alleviate the situation, Monash University Student Union has urged staff to offer rooms to international students struggling to secure housing. The union said that due to the difficulties with housing, some alternatives that weren’t ideal had to be considered, The Age reports.

“We’ve gotten to such a point that ... we need to reconsider options that we knew weren’t ideal, and we ruled out because we thought we weren’t at that stage. It looks like we’re at that stage,” Union's President Sebastian Schultz told the newspaper.

In Melbourne, international students are witnessing a shortage of rental vacancies, due to which many of them were left with the choice of accepting inadequate accommodation or risking being homeless. Students planning to move to this city face a rental vacancy rate of 0.8 percent, which has exceeded the rate in Sydney.

According to a survey conducted by IDP Connect, a leading global company in international education, the cost of living and increases in rent are forcing many international students to reconsider their decision to study abroad, Erudera.com reports.

The findings of the survey conducted among a group of more than 21,000 prospective and current international students from over 100 countries revealed that 51 percent of respondents are thinking of a change in their plans to study abroad due to the soaring prices related to the daily living and increase in rent, the price of which hit a record of $550 per week for the first time since 2018.

Erudera has earlier reported the results of the September 2022 edition of the Domain Rent Report, which unveiled that the price for both house and unit rents in Sydney was at a record high.

Australia is one of the most popular hubs for international students from all over the world. Renowned for its quality of education, safety, and quality of life, too, Australia attracts many students who get to study in a multicultural environment.

Last year, 360,358 international students were pursuing education at Australian universities and colleges. Besides higher education, the total number of students in all sectors rose by seven percent, reaching 613,327

Universities Australia, the peak body for universities in the country, has most recently expressed discontent over the visa system affecting international students in Australia. The organization said that instead of being discouraged, students from other countries should be incentivized to study in Australia.

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