Lack of homes cause problems for students

Student leaders in Glasgow have warned that a shortage of houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) in the city is fuelling a housing crisis.

The Glasgow University Students Association has stated that unless planning consent laws are relaxed, the student population could become subject to "ghettoisation".

Commenting on plans to veto the construction of more multiple occupancy homes in the city’s West End, Struan Campbell, accommodation representative for the body, told the Herald that such a move would have "huge consequences" for the university’s students.

"It means students will have to go further out – and if they don’t want to go further out then they are going to have to take properties that are not under HMO."

Because houses not registered as HMO properties are not covered by the same regulations, this could potentially lead to the risks associated with sub-standard housing, he asserted.

Meanwhile Josh MacAlister, president of Edinburgh University Students Association, has claimed that the same housing shortage continues to present a problem to the student population in the capital.