Cliona Peters, President of Erasmus Student Network Ireland (ESN), told The Journal that the organisation is receiving dozens of emails and social media messages a day from European students who can’t secure accommodation.
Since July, volunteers at ESN have received an overwhelming number of requests for assistance, some of which are coming from parents of students who are stepping in out of growing worry that their child won't find a place to live when they arrive in Ireland.
Through the Erasmus programme of the European Union, students can spend one or more semesters studying abroad.
Since the UK withdrew from the programme following Brexit, many students hoping to study English have started travelling to Ireland.
Peters claims that in her four years of employment with ESN, the situation has never been "that terrible." She continued, for the first time, students are cancelling their Erasmus programmes due to a lack of housing.
They don't want to arrive here and live on the streets. Irish students struggle to obtain housing, but Erasmus students are at a disadvantage because they don't know anyone in the nation.
She added that there has been a rise in the number of students who have been conned into paying for housing and deposits before arriving here, only to discover that the rental did not exist.
Shame to Ireland
Due in large part to some Erasmus students' lack of familiarity with Irish rental law, the number of students pleading with the ESN for assistance after being cheated is almost as high as the number of emails seeking housing.
"Scammers prey on desperation, and no one is more desperate than someone who is ready to travel abroad. They are easy pickings, said Peters.
She thinks that the situation is harming Ireland's standing abroad since young people are returning home and complaining about their unpleasant experiences here.
Irish students are welcomed, housed, and taken care of when we send them to other parts of Europe. However, we are unable to extend the same courtesy to visiting students. Ireland is embarrassed by it.
As vice president for diversity and inclusion for the DCU Students' Union and a representative on the national board of ESN Ireland, Christine O'Mahony has witnessed the severity of the problem in both of her positions.
O'Mahony must give out ESN cards to DCU Erasmus students as part of her volunteer job, but she has discovered that a sizable number of the persons on her mailing list have changed or erased their addresses.
"People will do it because they were just scammed, thus the address they provided isn't even their own address and they are forced to temporarily stay with friends. It's almost the middle of September, the semester is starting, and I frequently meet folks without a permanent home to reside. Or perhaps they simply gave up and left.
The French Embassy in this country cautioned recent immigrants, notably students, of a serious housing situation that would make it challenging for them to obtain accommodations last month.
Additionally, it foresaw a "sharp increase in rents, which are already significantly higher than in Paris."
According to a research from ECA International from the previous year, Dublin had the fifth-highest rent in Europe, one spot above Paris, with an average rental price of €3,713 per month for a three-bedroom residence in the city centre.
When Laura, a French student at Trinity College, had to spend €400 to remain in a family's spare room for 10 days after arriving in Ireland in August, she had to heed the warning of her embassy.
It also warned of “sharp increase in rents, which are currently much more expensive than in Paris”.
A report by ECA International last year found that Dublin had the fifth-highest rent in Europe, one spot above Paris, with the average rental cost of a three-bedroom city centre home at €3,713 per month.
Laura, a French student studying in Trinity College, experienced her embassy’s warning first-hand when she had to pay €400 to stay in a family’s spare room for 10 days when she arrived to Ireland in August.
How does Dublin compare to other cities?
She continued by saying that if she had known more about the Irish property market prior to coming, she would have been extremely unlikely to have applied to study here.
"If you're self-funded and don't have family back home providing money, then you probably should go somewhere else," said the speaker, "especially when you mix the rent with the cost of living crisis."
French students in Ireland are frequently predisposed to being taken advantage of, according to Peters, the president of Ireland's Erasmus programme.
Many families that rent to French people will frequently include the requirement that they must give hours of grinds per week to their exam-age children because it is a popular language to study in secondary school here.
According to O'Mahony, she has encountered families who rent a room on the understanding that French, or less frequently Spanish or German, will be taught.
They are using their nationality to their advantage in order to assist their kids with their Leaving or Junior Cert exams.
Along with rent, which is frequently more than most students, especially Erasmus students, can pay, there is also this.
It is possible for Irish students to get up to €200 a month toward their rent in Laura and Adrien's home country if they study abroad for more than one semester.
Laura explains, "I anticipated rent would be an issue before I arrived because I know every capital city is like way.
I'm not from Paris, but it is the capital of my nation, and I was aware that Dublin's position was somewhat comparable—possibly even worse.
During the housing crisis, Laura is aware that there is discrimination against non-Irish people, with some believing they don't deserve homes as much as natives.
Although she hasn't personally experienced discrimination, she has advised other Erasmus students to follow her example and removed her country from her personal information on rental websites out of concern that landlords could be unfavourable to her.
How the housing issue got so terrible in Ireland is one of her main interests.
There aren't many political events. There won't be many economic laws in place, but the scenario in the future will be exceedingly distressing.
"If they are willing to take out a loan to live here, I would suggest anyone travelling to give it some thought before moving to Dublin. Although it is a lovely and vibrant city, strong market regulation is required to prevent people from going bankrupt by the end of the month as a result of their time spent studying here.
Cody added more detail by saying:
"I've lived in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sydney, and Melbourne. Even though Sydney is known for being extremely pricey, I believe my trip to Dublin was the most costly one I've ever taken. especially considering how brief the period was. I don't know how people manage with it over the long term because it was so pricey for just four months.
Long-term Irish students who are studying here face unique challenges.
A Trinity College student wrote last week about her rental troubles and how other third-level students weren't coming to class since they didn't yet have housing in Dublin.
"It is disgusting that students would lose out on even a minute of that education owing to a lack of something as basic as a roof over their heads in a developed country with world-renowned universities and strong rates of advancement to third-level study," Mairéad Maguire said.
The Taoiseach addressed the matter in the Dáil today and suggested that the government step in to assist institutions in expanding their facilities.
There is a problem with student housing. In order to bridge the gap between what they can build it for and what they can fairly expect students to pay for it, the Minister of Higher Education is collaborating with the Minister of Public Expenditure as well as institutions.
"The government needs to step in, just like we did with housing."
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