Private Renters Report
Arts Students' Union's (Arts SU) groundbreaking research report into the experiences of students at University of the Arts London (UAL) in the private rental sector releases today.
Over 300 students shared their experiences with us, on a wide range of topics including affordability of accommodation, living conditions (including having enough space to live and study, and whether their accommodation feels like home), and the impact their living situation has on their physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. We are incredibly grateful to every student who responded, opening up and sharing their experiences in the private rental sector with us to enable us to produce this report.
The findings of our research illustrate huge levels of dissatisfaction with the private rental sector and how it impacts students. Over half of respondents (51.57%) reported that the condition of their accommodation has negatively impacted on their mental health. There is a crisis of mental health amongst students, and poor-quality, unsafe accommodation is a major contributing factor. A majority of respondents also reported taking measures to stay warm, including wearing extra clothes to bed (69.26%), staying in UAL buildings for longer (39.69%), and choosing to socialise rather than staying at home (23.74%).
Back in 2020, Arts SU researched UAL students' experiences of their accommodation while studying during lockdown, and since then, students have continued to raise the living conditions of their accommodation as a factor affecting their attainment and ability to thrive while at UAL. While UAL conducts its own surveys, this does not take into account the many students who rent privately. With the release of our Private Renters Report, Arts SU seeks to secure both immediate and long-term solutions and practical support from UAL and in the private rental market to improve the poor, overpriced conditions many of our members find themselves living in. With a list of short-term and long-term recommendations found at the end of the report, Arts SU aims to take meaningful strides to lobby for real change for our students.
The Arts SU Private Renters Report is authored by Calum Sherwood, Arts SU's Senior Policy & Research Officer, and designed by Marina Marbella, Arts SU's Graphic Designer.
Read the full report
Housing and Community Report
Art students have always been of particular interest to the media in their relationship to housing. Seen as cultural innovators, where art students choose to reside has been read by the media at best as a sign of “the next cool place”, and more negatively, as a sign of coming gentrification. Through this project, we are looking to explore the realities of lockdown living in London, away from the media's binary portrayal of art students either as “gentrifiers” or "suffering for their art".
Even before the pandemic, UAL students consistently raised housing issues to Arts SU as important factors impacting on their student experience. The buildings we inhabit and make our homes (even if only during term time) impact on our emotional and physical health, our sense of safety and belonging, and on our ability to learn.
All of this has been compounded by the increased time we spend in our homes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting measures put in place to reduce transmission, including multiple lockdowns.
Space poverty, lack of access to studios and technical resources, and poor quality housing are having a disproportionate impact on creatives both in terms of their practice, and their well-being.
This research, conducted by the Arts SU Policy Team, will give us a snapshot of life as a London art student in the 2020/21 cohort, and speak to the wider context of an academic year group for whom the pandemic has injected more volatility into an already precarious housing and employment landscape.
The report shall be divided into two parts: the first shall discuss issues concerning housing and accommodation, while the second shall discuss issues concerning community. Finally, this reports makes a series of recommendations on how UAL can begin responding to these issues. However, it is also our intention for this report to ask as the start of an ongoing conversation around housing and student life.
We will be working with UAL to implement the recommendations in this report.
Read the full report