An estimated 5,000 international students heading to Perth to study this month have nowhere to stay, prompting desperate calls from universities for staff and alumni to offer beds in their own homes to accommodate them.
The housing affordability crisis and subsequent shortage of rentals, combined with the return of international students at levels set to exceed pre-pandemic numbers at some institutions, have contributed to the problem.
Nepalese student Prasidha Neupane flew to Perth last month to undertake a Masters in Environmental Engineering, but the accommodation he had pre-booked turned out not to exist.
"I couldn't find the address as a place [on a map] and the person vanished, vanished from everywhere, including Facebook," he said.
Students facing homelessness
Finding alternative accommodation proved impossible.
"At that moment, I became homeless, I didn't have any place to go in Perth," he said.
"I didn't know anybody. I don't have friends, I don't have family.
"So I didn't have any choice rather [than] to book a domestic ticket and come to Melbourne where my sister is living."
Study Perth chief executive Derryn Belford, whose organisation helps develop the international student market, said a big jump in enrolments was expected this semester, based on information received from its member organisations.
She expected 5,000 beds were still needed for students.
"Obviously, that's a fluid situation, because for some students, they will decide if they can't get accommodation that they will actually go somewhere else," she said.
Surging student numbers
At UWA, applications from international students are up 40 per cent on the same time last year, and a whopping 33 per cent on pre-pandemic levels, while Curtin and Murdoch universities are also expecting significant increases in international student numbers this semester.
Ms Belford said previously, students typically spent six months in on-campus halls of residence, before moving out with friends into share houses.
However, the severe shortage of affordable housing meant students were staying longer in university accommodation, making it even more difficult for new students to get places.
In addition, local students had been offered discount rates to stay at campus accommodation when WA's borders were closed during the pandemic, and many were reluctant to move out because of the difficulty of securing affordable alternative housing.
Almost all on-campus accommodation across the three universities was fully booked well in advance of the start of semester, prompting management to adopt desperate measures in an effort to secure more beds for students.
Staff asked to house students
In a note to staff dated January 20 and seen by the ABC, Curtin vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne noted demand for student accommodation was at "peak level" thanks to the return of international students.
She asked staff to consider housing international students on a short or long term basis.
"I know Curtin staff understand how international students enrich both our university and our local community, and I encourage those with a room to rent to consider hosting a student," she wrote.
The Curtin branch of the National Tertiary Education Union said an "alarming number" of international students have no housing lined up, blaming university management for not taking action sooner, especially given the already heated wider housing market.
NTEU branch president Scott Fitzgerald said in an email to staff that asking lecturers and others to accommodate students raised ethical questions, and it was "entirely unclear whether management have considered the ramifications of what they are suggesting to the miniscule number of staff who are in a position to participate"
"It’s not good enough to say that WA’s housing crisis is out of Curtin’s control," Associate Professor Fitzgerald wrote.
"Housing is a basic human right, and we need a university that is a leading voice in the call for progressive solutions to the housing crisis."
Meanwhile, UWA has asked its alumni to consider hosting students.
"All you need to do is provide a clean and furnished bedroom and you will be fully reimbursed for the student’s cost of living and facilities used," chief advancement officer Fiona Allan and convocation warden Jenny Gregory wrote in an email to former students in December.
Overcrowding, exploitation
The situation has been compounded by last weekend's announcement by the Chinese government that it would no longer recognise qualifications gained by its students via remote learning, which is expected to lead to thousands more Chinese students trying to come to Australia to study.
Student guilds at WA universities wrote to the state government this week, requesting "urgent intervention to support students" with accommodation, some of which they say are facing the threat of homelessness.
"We are concerned about overcrowding, and further exploitation of students living in student accommodation who currently are not protected by ordinary tenancy rights," the letter said.
"In addition to this, many universities have outsourced the management of their student accommodation, leading to some unscrupulous operators taking advantage of students and even leasing to non-students."
Hameed Mohammad, who is the international officer for postgraduate students at the Council of Australian Postgraduate Association, is critical of universities for not providing enough support to international students looking for accommodation.
"Universities have been desperate for international students to return, but now they're back, there's nowhere for them to stay," he said.
"We need better assistance from universities, instead of just seeing international students as a cash cow and a way to make more money."
The state government has been pushing for the return of international students, but conceded an accommodation shortfall was expected in semester one, which a spokesperson said it was "closely monitoring".
"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, several factors have impacted the rate of return of international students including visa processing delays and flight availability, making it difficult to determine projected arrival figures," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"The Western Australian government’s funded partner Study Perth is actively researching opportunities to facilitate investment in and development of purpose-built student accommodation in the state, including any potential to repurpose under-utilised hotel accommodation."
Perth rents rise 12 per cent
CoreLogic research head Eliza Owen said the rental crisis had been exacerbated during the pandemic by people needing more space in their houses for home offices, meaning that rooms that could otherwise have been used as bedrooms were unavailable.
"It is a perfect confluence of factors between fewer people per household and returning overseas migration," Ms Owen said.
"And we also saw more investors selling off in recent years due to the capital gains that we've seen across Perth over the past few years."
She said rents had risen 12 per cent in Perth over the past year, with $550 the typical weekly rate for a house and $480 for a unit — while vacancy rates had slumped to 0.5 per cent.
"It [the affordable rental shortage] could put some people in quite vulnerable positions in terms of homelessness," Ms Owen said.
"And it's something that is not able to be responded to that quickly from a supply perspective.
"It's going to be a very challenging few months."
Accommodation providers can't keep up with demand
The 500-bed, purpose-built Switch building opened its doors in March last year, just as WA was reopening its borders after the pandemic, and manager Tara Holst said demand for its rooms, which are primarily aimed at students, had quickly outstripped supply.
"We filled up within a couple of months. And now we've got ongoing demand," she said.
"We are receiving high volumes of calls at the moment, we're doing everything we possibly can to try and fit them in.
"But we do only have 500 beds here [and] we are looking at seeing if we can get another facility up in Perth."
The rooms, which start at $285 a week inclusive of bills, are so popular that Ms Holt has had to open a waiting list, but with little alternative accommodation available in Perth, turnover is low.
Indian students Naireeka Naruza and Arunima Chaudhuri moved into The Switch soon after it opened, and neither plans to move out this year.
Both say they were lucky to find a spot, and would have been forced to reconsider studying in Perth if accommodation had not been readily available.
Ms Chaudhuri said she had been contacted by many international students who had not been able to find accommodation, and had been advising them to scour online advertisements for somewhere to live.
"I understand that the market is very tight right now," she said.
The lucrative international student market was worth $2.1 billion to the WA economy in 2019, and even in COVID-affected 2021-22, contributed $1.2 billion.
Student Accommodation Council executive director Torie Brown said Perth had far fewer purpose-built student accommodation than almost all other Australian cities, with 27 students for every bed, compared to a nationwide average of 19.
"There's been a lot of investment in student housing in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, they've really ramped up their offerings, but we haven't seen that in Perth," she said.
"There are no new developments due to come online and no approvals in the pipeline.
"So what you get is a lot of students competing with mums and dads and workers for the limited number of rentals that are available."
Ms Belford said the situation was only going to get worse once Edith Cowan University's new CBD campus opened in 2025 or 2026, with 8,000 students set to study there.
She said a government campaign, launched late last year to encourage people to rent rooms out to students had been successful, but more rooms were still needed, as was more purpose built accommodation.
Warning over scammers
Meanwhile, Mr Neupane has finally managed to secure accommodation in Perth — but it is two hours' travel time from Murdoch University, where he will be studying.
He says he would never have chosen to study in Perth if he had known how difficult it was to secure accommodation, and had a warning for other potential students.
"Don't trust the people that you meet online, on Facebook or any social media," he said.
"And I know you're in desperate need of the room, but don't send the money directly.
"I think in Australia, you have to think smarter."
