Lump of concrete wedged in my throat. Heartbeat quickening. Eyes darting. Apple Watch Mindfulness reminder nagging at my wrist. Two things in life frequently fill me with instant panic: spiders and numbers. With spiders I can douse my flat in peppermint spray and convince myself they love being sucked up by the hoover. But numbers? There is no escape.

Numeracy was never my strong suit. I really need to force myself to digest numbers, reading them two or three times before they sink in. My brain desperately wants to skip over them. But occasionally a figure will leap out at my maths-loathing mind like a Jumping Spider. Yesterday it was the number 6,093. The shortfall of student beds in Scotland’s largest city according to a new report from the University of Glasgow led UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE).

The report, co-authored by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland, University of Stirling, StudentCrowd, Edinburgh Student Housing Co-operative (ESHC) and Slurp Edinburgh (Students for Action on Homelessness) warns that thousands of students across Scotland are at risk of homelessness and unable to access the right housing. The authors identified a severe student housing crisis in cities including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee and are calling on the Scottish Government to take immediate action.

But wait a minute. Wait just a minute. I thought Glasgow needed 22,000 student beds? Isn’t that why we keep approving all of these high-end Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) blocks? Isn’t that why the local authority has agreed to let foreign developers rip up our built heritage? If I strain my ears from the office I can almost hear a Kubota digger scraping desperately against the cast iron arch of the former ABC cinema on Sauchiehall Street.

It was a report by property giant Savills from April this year that stated Glasgow had a student bed shortfall of 22,000. But this new report identifies a shortfall of 6,093 at 2022/23. My calculator tells me that is a discrepancy of 15,907. Turns out the market-led “need” for student accommodation ranges widely from around 5,500 to nearly 60,000, depending on the author and methodology of the report in question.

Savills’ calculations were “based on the number of additional PBSA beds needed to reach a 1.5 student to bed ratio against the number of total full-time students, minus the total pipeline as of March 2024”. Meanwhile, the figures in the university report are a snapshot of the situation in 2022/23. A spokesperson for Savills said their report couldn’t be “directly” compared to the new one because “the methodology isn’t the same”.

Dr Gareth James, a Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, agrees. “The difference in our results is down to the application of method.”

The CaCHE-led report focuses on full time students, assuming less demand for student accommodation among part time students. Unlike Savills, their report also takes into account “commuter students”, or those who live at home. “This gives a figure for the real demand pool,” says Dr James.

The 1.5 student-to-bed ratio (also used by Savills) assumes some students will go for private rentals and HMO flats. The CaCHE report only applies this to the demand pool to get the figure for the shortfall in private PBSA and university-maintained halls. “We think this is a more robust approach,” he adds.

Okay fellow figure-phobes, still with me? Just a few more I promise. Glasgow had 90,030 students in 2022/23 with a shortfall of 6,093 beds. Since January 2023, Glasgow City Council has approved nine applications for 3,394 PBSA beds which are due for completion in the next two years. A further 22 applications are live as of August 2024 for 7,217 student beds. If all of these are approved (and make it to completion) and the CaCHE-led report is correct, we would have 10,611 lavish PBSA beds, a surplus of 4,517.

READ MORE MARISSA MACWHIRTER 

Numbers are in the eye of the methodologist, so to speak. Methodology can be like a balloon. The same limp bit of latex can become any number of sizes depending on the amount of air you blow into it. But I’m no expert.

More importantly, students who cannot afford to live in pricey PBSA flats are falling through the cracks. At the most recent Blythswood and Broomielaw Community Council meeting, residents raised concerns about the affordability of student accommodation in their area. Their own research found the average cost for a bed in a city centre PBSA was around £1,000 per month.

It’s often the largest group of students who opt to live in HMOs and they are notoriously difficult to study. But anecdotal evidence and experts suggest that the HMO market is shrinking and landlords are shifting towards tenants in full time employment. Universities know how many students are taking their courses and how many beds are available in halls or PBSAs but when it comes to the private rental sector, they rely on “informed guesswork”.

Higher Education Institutions and local authorities need to bang their heads together when it comes to addressing homelessness and how that interacts with the student population. It’s a deeply rooted structural planning problem that saw total crisis in 2022. Students were faced with quitting their studies because they had nowhere to live. The crisis was less acute in 2023 and this year, but the situation is delicate.

The CaCHE report makes eight recommendations including more collaboration with governments, universities and developers, the creation of housing resource hubs for students and the exploration of mid-market PBSAs. I have a few suggestions as well.

Don’t let developers justify destroying built heritage so they can cram a few extra rooms into their buildings because we don’t seem to need them. Glasgow must seriously put its foot down with builders and demand they include affordable options in their new developments. And respect the integrity of the city. Sure, they might walk away. But I think we should call their bluff. Or give their derelict listed buildings to housing associations and jointly work out how to ensure at-risk students can be assisted, between education institutions and local councils.

It seems like an application for one of these characterless blocks during a housing crisis is submitted to planning every week. And while I strongly believe that Glasgow needs investment, we also need to have the confidence to set boundaries with big business and deliver developments that are going to serve the people who want to live here for the long haul.

Writing this filled me with number-induced anxiety, but nothing compares to the permanent dread of being housing insecure, whether you’re a student or not. When I was at university, I spent weeks couch surfing and spending the odd night in a budget hotel mid-term after a relationship breakdown. My family was abroad. I could not afford to stay in a PBSA flat despite getting a student loan and working 25 hours a week in hospitality. There was no cohesive system by which to find housing because I lived in Glasgow and commuted to the University of Stirling. When I finally found a flat nearly two months later, it was an HMO in the private sector.

Addressing the shortfall of accommodation is not just about numbers, it’s about supporting the development of the right kind of housing. Letting developers do what they like because the city is desperate is short-sighted at best. Students should be brought back into the housing emergency conversation. I know enough about numbers to know that 6,000 is less than 22,000, but any one person at risk of homelessness is a person too many. Student or not.

Marissa MacWhirter is the editor of The Glasgow Wrap. Each morning, Marissa curates the top local news stories from around the city, delivering them to your inbox at 7am daily so you can stay up to date on the best reporting without ads, clickbait or annoying digital clutter. Oh, and it’s free. She can be found on X @marissaamayy1