University Assures No Students to be Evicted, Now Facing Calls to Suspend Rent

Ellie Stephenson reports.

International students staying at the University’s student accommodation facilities no longer need to fear evictions after a letter from Vice Chancellor Michael Spence assuring them that the University “will not be evicting students that come to us for support”. This comes after a campaign from students at the Sydney University Village (SUV), who wrote to the University and SUV management to ask that rent be reduced or suspended and evictions be prevented. 

Aman Kapoor, an international student staying at SUV, led the fight, arguing that international students who have recently lost their jobs and other sources of income due to the COVID-19 crisis cannot pay their rents. The Sydney Housing Defence Coalition, a tenant activist group, supported the campaign on social media. 

Earlier this week, SUV staff controversially took down signs displayed by students reading ‘SYDNEY UNI STUDENTS SAY: NO EVICTIONS – SUSPEND OR REDUCE RENTS’. Students displayed the signs after frustration with the slow response of SUV and University management to the issue. 

The University has been the target of widespread criticism due to their handling of student housing needs during COVID-19. Pulp has previously reported on the controversial eviction of students at Abercrombie Student Accommodation to use the facility for quarantining affected students. 

The campaign to protect access to housing transcends the University. The Prime Minister announced a moratorium (i.e. a temporary suspension) on evictions last week, however it is as yet unclear how this will be enacted. Various housing activists and politicians have been calling for additional measures, including the National Union of Students (NUS) demand for a moratorium on utility disconnections and additional rental support. With mass job losses and workers being stood down, it is clear that insecure and casualised workers like students could face worrying levels of housing insecurity without further action.