A Shortage of Student Housing

“As students return to campus, colleges are struggling to house them” (Forbes, 2021)

Darthmouth college in Hanover, New Hamphshire is one of the many colleges around the world experiencing a shortage of on-campus housing as students prepare to return for fall 2021.

With added pressures of COVID, an increased number of international applicants this year and a lack of affordable housing for all students—overheated housing markets in the US, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand amongst others become unable to cope with such an influx. Hundreds of students remained on the waiting list for student housing with only a few weeks before the start of semester.

It is critical to address the shortage of student housing and the high cost of accommodation in emerging student cities, science parks, innovation districts and research centres that have the potential of attracting the world’s best researchers and students. New, affordable and inventive solutions for housing dedicated to students will help ease the pressure off of local housing. The student housing crisis demands a shift in the spatial geography of innovation and a solution that seeks to provide a high quality of life integrating housing, work and recreation.

A Synergy Between Academics and Business

Student cities bear immense potential for transitioning into innovation districts. Innovation districts are hubs of entrepreneurship, mobility, sustainability, housing, recreation, education and research. They encompass a blended use of functions for all age groups—knowledge institutions, innovative companies, housing and facilities—that tend to be based around the city-centre. The realization of such districts often coincide with urban restructuring.

It is a concept common in the United States, but is also spreading in Europe through projects such such as the 22@ in Barcelona, High Tech Campus Eindhoven or the Oxford Road Corridor in Manchester. In order to achieve such innovation-oriented knowledge-based economies, the housing market must systematically respond to the needs of students.

Mixed-use Development Opportunities Presented by COVID

COVID-19 has emptied office buildings and business districts; with work-from-home expected to be the post-pandemic norm, converting office spaces and hotels into mixed-use residential solutions may help tackle the inner-city housing shortages.

Vacant offices and hotels could be partly converted into affordable, innovation-oriented living and working spaces for students. The different aspects within a student’s life—including co-working spaces, rooms for meetings and events, entertainment, internship offices or hotel rooms for visiting family—could be incorporated into a single development that strengthens the attraction of its residents that seek a live/work/play environment. Temporary housing (2 – 6 months) solutions as part of the program for first-time international students will allow them to orientate themselves in the new city and find the right accommodation.

Integrated housing developments will help create lively, communities of knowledge for workers, entrepreneurs and students. Gen Z desires to be surrounded by opportunities of hands-on exposure, internships and collaborations. Developments such as mixed-use buildings and housing units will serve to stimulate the social interaction between students, young professionals and researchers. Such solutions will provide students with urban amenities, a vibrant social life and will help transform student cities into innovation districts intended for blended use. Sustainable and compact mixed-use developments could also become a part of a transit-oriented, “10-minute city” solution for students with public transport providing convenient transit to universities.

Conclusion

COVID 19 has hastened the decline of the hospitality sector, retail and offices; however this gives the housing market an opportunity to pile on alternatives that will fare better—including the development of student housing. In the light of today’s student housing crisis, mixed-use development could be an innovative and economically beneficial solution that could help bridge the worlds of academics and business.