MEETING REPORT: Report_ 2023 SR II – Studentification (1)

Tenant representatives were invited to come together on 28th March 2023 to discuss how substantial and/or growing student populations in their boroughs have impacted their communities. London has a significant concentration of higher education institutions, collectively attended by hundreds of thousands of students. Boroughs with such institutions, and those neighbouring them, have seen considerable construction of purpose-built student accommodation over the past couple decades. Conversions of homes into HMO properties (including former council homes, purchased via right to buy) have also historically contributed to neighbourhood change.

Tenant representatives discussed the role of local-authority approved purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), as well as HMO conversions of former council properties, in facilitating the changes they have observed and experienced. Notably, tenant representatives agreed that PBSA exemplifies the commodification and financialisation of housing that presently characterises the UK, and that this comes at the expense of both social housing communities and the students PBSA is meant to serve.

Powerpoint slides from the meeting can be found here. Information on housing delivery captured in the slides come from the GLA’s residential completions dashboard.

The post-meeting report can be found here.

Please contact sarah@londontenants.org if you have any comments or questions.