The prices of a room in Messina have increased by 14% according to the immobiliare.it report which confirms that the expensive rent is a problem for students and families, as the student union UDU has been denouncing for some time.
One month before the start of the new academic year, there will be no new accommodation places compared to the previous year.
“We are awaiting the reopening of the Student House which we will continue to monitor, but also of the former Riviera hotel whose work should be completed by February 2024. The new residences, together with the lease contract signed by the University of Messina with the Hotel Liberty, will have to guarantee the right denied to off-site students to be able to live in the city in which they study. We will continue to pay maximum attention to the university residences and accommodation places on the way” – declares UDU Coordinator Messina Damiano di Giovanni – “which must be public and for the benefit of the students who are entitled to them“.
According to data from the Ministry of Education, out of 824,000 off-site university students in Italy, only 4.9% have access to beds in university accommodation to guarantee the right to study. The situation in Messina is even more difficult, with the majority of students forced to look for solutions outside the university residences, which are unable to respond to the demand for accommodation places.
The UDU together with the trade unions Sunia and CGIL has launched the first national survey on the housing issue of university students, to build a campaign for the right to housing and the right to study. The survey on housing conditions is underway, and will be useful in collecting responses from all university cities to obtain a complete picture of off-site students throughout Italy, so as to identify critical issues and solutions.
Link to the questionnaire: bit.ly/investigativacasa
The manifest article
The Union of University Students has drawn up a detailed manifesto, made up of 10 proposals for tackling the housing crisis. It is necessary to act on the tax lever and to counter undeclared rents. To remedy the situation of the housing emergency, it is necessary to adopt policies and structural interventions that guarantee the right to housing. We asked to increase the support fund for non-residents, for which the budget law only provided for 4 million euros. A ridiculous figure given the colossal housing crisis and high rents underway.