University of York students offered accommodation in Hull
There are warnings over a 'huge demand' for accommodation.
Last updated 14th Sep 2021
Students in need of places to live in York are being offered accommodation in Hull.
The University of York has apologised for the inconvenience, saying the decision will be a 'temporary measure'.
The move has been criticised by some, with those affected taking to social media to air their concerns. One Twitter user called 'Izzy' says "there's no point telling me about freshers when I literally have no where to live", whilst Joanne says one of her twin daughters may have to defer her place 'because they've ran out of guaranteed accommodation'.
Adam Bennett runs a student letting agents in York, and says the situation was predictable: "A lot of people deferred for a year so there were obviously going to be all the people that deferred plus all the people that normally come.
"It comes as no surprise whatsoever. It's hard to give advice on what to do as we don't know how many people are looking; the figures range from a hundred people to a thousand people. There are places, it's just a case of looking and it is difficult.
"Things do come up at short notice as people will give backword on a property or room, and what we do is stick it on our website and hope for the best. There are other options, but most people are stuck because the majority of letting agents won't let to students.
"It's crazy how many enquiries we've had. It's got to the stage where if we do get the odd room becoming available we daren't put it live on our website because we get so swamped by people calling.
"It's sheer desperation and it jams our phones, which is really upsetting for our staff because they want to help but there's not a great deal we can do to help. We try and let these rooms without putting it on the website.
"We don't hold things back - if we get stuff we do put it online, but it's a case of first come first serve.
"We've been inundated with people wanting to rent a place we have in Scarborough, but they haven't worked out the logistics of travelling to York from there. It could be an option for people mainly studying from home or pooling a car into campus.
"I think things will settle down, but it won't be quite what people were hoping. We're about a month away from going live with our houses for the next academic year, but if we have a problem now then we're going to be inundated.
"I can see that some of the other letting agents are going to jump on the bandwagon of hiking up the rents. They'll stick on as much as they dare to, which is really unfair for everybody given how things have been over the last couple of years".
A spokesperson for the University of York said: "There has been huge demand for University accommodation across the UK, including York, and we’re working hard to find additional rooms.
"We have close links to nearby Hull, which is a temporary measure because we’re expecting new accommodation on campus from January, but we understand this is not ideal and we’re very sorry for the inconvenience.
"We are offering 150 students accommodation in Hull. We will be providing a 10% reduction in rent charges and providing all of our comprehensive welfare support. We are also finalising a free shuttle bus service".