Students forced to sleep in their cars because of housing crisis

MORE THAN 30 students at SETU in Carlow are regularly sleeping in their cars because they can’t find affordable accommodation in the town. That’s according to a survey organised by the students’ union welfare officer and seen by The Nationalist.

Some 68% of the students who responded to the survey said they were sleeping in their cars because of a lack of affordable student accommodation in Carlow. Others mentioned feeling too tired to drive after a full day of lectures. According to the survey, two-thirds of students who regularly sleep in their cars felt unsafe doing so, while the other third either felt neutral about safety or relatively safe.

“It’s a lot easier to pack a bag, leave it in the boot of the car, sleep in the car overnight, wake up early in the morning, go to college, get a shower, get a bite to eat and then go to class at nine o’clock in the morning,” a student who regularly sleeps in his car told The Nationalist.

The student, who does not want to be named, began sleeping in his car on some weeknights last year. He lives an hour and ten minutes’ drive from SETU’s Carlow campus and is in the library until about 10pm most nights because of his course workload.

“I won’t be home until eleven o’clock at night. I’m essentially just driving home to sleep. One night I was just, like, I’ll give it a shot because I know a few lads who have slept in their cars here and there,” the student said.

Due to the shortage of car parking spaces at college, students who commute to college by car say they must be on campus for 7am to ensure that they get a parking space. This student said that he leaves home at 6am to get a space in the car park.

SETU Carlow currently has 1,119 car parking spaces, but has over 5,000 registered students, most of whom commute by car.

On the nights that this student sleeps in his car, he prefers to park it on SETU’s campus as the gates are locked and the car park feels relatively safe. However, if the security guards see anyone in their car while they make their rounds before locking the campus up for the night, they will make them leave the campus.

“I’ve had it happen to me quite a few times, and I’ve had to resort to moving a car to one of the nearby estates,” the student said. “I’ve had to sleep a few times in some of the nearby estates, like Southern Gardens and College Green, and it was a bit dodgy. Any noise I heard around me, I’d pop my head up and see what the hell’s going on, whereas if you’re on campus nobody’s around you anyway.” 

To get around the security guards’ checks, students have resorted to leaving their cars on campus and going into the centre of Carlow town to eat when the guards are locking up the campus.

“Then I just hop the wall and get back into the car and go to bed,” the student said.

When asked what his parents thought about him sleeping in his car, the student said: “They’re probably a bit anxious because it’s nighttime and you’re just in the car, but they know that it is what it is and I have to do what I have to do to get the degree, at the end of the day.” 

While other students have reported struggling to stay warm on the nights that they sleep in their car, this student says that he has never been cold in his car, because its newer and therefore better insulated.

The student said that finding student accommodation is very difficult in Carlow. “It’s hard to find something, especially as I’ve never had accommodation previously. And if you don’t have any references, a lot of places won’t take you on.” 

This student has also been put off trying to secure digs because of the state of the properties that his peers and friends are living in.

“I have stayed in some of my friends’ houses and slept on their couches, and there’s mould. The bathrooms are black and covered in mould. Lads have to keep their heating on 24-7 to keep the house warm. Then they get charged with extra bills on top of that because they’re using more heat than they’re meant to be using,” the student explained.

“I feel so much more comfortable just sleeping in my car. At least I know my car is hygienic.” 

SETU Carlow currently has no university-owned student accommodation. Until 2022, technical universities weren’t eligible for government financing to build student accommodation, which is how many other universities build their student accommodation.

Although SETU Waterford can house 426 students in university-owned accommodation, this was built when Waterford was an institute of technology. In 2022, funding was approved for the technical university sector to develop a student accommodation plan based on regional needs and a feasibility assessment. The government is yet to produce a shortlist of suitable projects that it will consider helping to finance.