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Every summer we see in the news the shortage of accommodation for students in higher education. This situation, which directly affects thousands of displaced young people and, of course, their families, is more than just a logistical issue: it is one of many reflections of the severe housing crisis Portugal is facing.
The statistics are stark and cause for concern: there is a shortage of 75,000 student beds, with rooms in short supply and increasingly difficult to obtain. Data regularly published by the Student Accommodation Observatory shows that the situation is getting worse. Despite ambitious and welcome plans to add 18,000 new beds by 2026, this effort is clearly not enough. After all, the lack of student accommodation is not just an infrastructural issue, but has far-reaching social and economic consequences. The lack of supply forces many students to adopt precarious solutions or opt for long daily commutes. Unfortunately, for an increasing number of students, the inability to find suitable accommodation is a factor in making it difficult to access higher education, perpetuating social inequalities and limiting educational opportunities.
This challenge is closely linked to the sectoral crisis that affects our country and, more seriously, all cities with large university centers, such as Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Coimbra, Braga, Guimarães and Aveiro. All players – students, families, real estate developers and public institutions – are facing an extremely complex situation, as supply does not keep up with demand, house price increases and rental scarcity.
We need a comprehensive, coordinated response, and in my view, recovery and resilience plans may be a unique opportunity to direct significant resources towards the development of student accommodation. In addition to direct investment in new buildings, I believe public-private partnerships that can leverage private capital to expand supply must be encouraged. Building centres for students, with services and public transport, can take pressure off local housing markets and provide a better quality of life for young people.
In fact, the student accommodation crisis is yet another reflection of Portugal’s wider housing crisis. It is a moral obligation to ensure that access to education is not hindered by a lack of housing. After all, people who marry need a house, and so do people who study. All of us – the government, the private sector and civil society – must work together to meet this challenge.
General Manager of GesConsult
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