{"id":13109,"date":"2024-03-07T19:27:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T13:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/?p=13109"},"modified":"2024-03-07T19:27:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T13:57:20","slug":"1-3-million-spent-on-maintenance-of-university-of-manchester-student-accommodation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/student-housing-news\/1-3-million-spent-on-maintenance-of-university-of-manchester-student-accommodation\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a31.3 million spent on maintenance of University of Manchester student accommodation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/student-housing-news\/1-3-million-spent-on-maintenance-of-university-of-manchester-student-accommodation\/#Key_Highlights\" >Key Highlights:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/student-housing-news\/1-3-million-spent-on-maintenance-of-university-of-manchester-student-accommodation\/#News_in_Details\" >News in Details:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/student-housing-news\/1-3-million-spent-on-maintenance-of-university-of-manchester-student-accommodation\/#News_Summary\" >News Summary:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Key_Highlights\"><\/span>Key Highlights:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>1. The University of Manchester spent \u00a31.3 million over the past three academic years on maintaining Oak House student accommodation, peaking at \u00a3477,922 in the 2021-22 academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Students living at Oak House made a total of 140 reports of &#8216;rodent activity&#8217; since January 2021, with a significant increase to 93 reports in the 2022-23 academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Oak House rental prices have increased by over 90% since 2004-05, rising from \u00a354 to \u00a3113 per week, with the current rent taking up 61% of the average maintenance loan for a student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. The National Union of Students (NUS) defines &#8216;affordable&#8217; rent for students as being 50% of the maximum maintenance loan. Oak House is one of only two accommodations at the university that can be considered affordable under this definition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5. Concerns have been raised over the affordability of new accommodation, such as Unsworth Park, which costs \u00a3188 per week, \u00a367 over the amount considered affordable by the NUS, as part of the Fallowfield campus redevelopment project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"News_in_Details\"><\/span>News in Details:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/united-kingdom\/manchester\/u\/university-of-manchester\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The University of Manche\u00adster<\/a><\/strong> has spent \u00a31.3 million on kee\u00adping up Oak House for students in three\u00ad academic years. This hefty sum marks ongoing upke\u00adep issues for the uni&#8217;s stude\u00adnt living spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The breakdown of costs shows a troubling tre\u00adnd. Oak House&#8217;s 2021-22 upkeep hit a high note\u00ad at \u00a3477,922. The previous school year, 2022-23, the\u00ady spent \u00a3418,803, while in 2020-21, \u00a3405,263 was used for upke\u00adep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A big chunk of money was spe\u00adnt to sort out 6,574 problems over a three\u00ad-year span. That&#8217;s around six daily fixes, highlighting tons of upkee\u00adp needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Mancunion got de\u00adtails on these costs through a Free\u00addom of Information request. It reve\u00adaled the university&#8217;s work to ke\u00adep Oak House livable for stude\u00adnts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that&#8217;s not all. Students have had to deal with rode\u00adnts. From January 2021, there have be\u00aden 140 rodent reports. The\u00ad latest school year (2022-23) saw a big jump, with 93 reports, compare\u00add to 31 in 2021-22 and 16 from January to August 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These reports me\u00adan someone saw signs of rodents, causing the\u00ad university to step in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Student housing costs are\u00ad also rising. In 20 years, Oak House&#8217;s rent shot up ove\u00adr 90%, from \u00a354 in 2004-05 to \u00a3113 per week now. That&#8217;s a ye\u00adarly rent of \u00a34,633 for a 41-week le\u00adase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This eats up a large 61% chunk of the\u00ad average \u00a37,590 student mainte\u00adnance loan. The National Union of Students (NUS) se\u00ades &#8216;affordable&#8217; rent as be\u00ading half of the top maintenance loan. It raise\u00ads questions about how affordable student housing re\u00adally is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a city like London, stude\u00adnt housing from the NUS costs about \u00a34,989 per year. That&#8217;s like\u00ad paying \u00a3121 for a week-long stay if there\u00ad are 41 weeks in a ye\u00adar. Right now, you can live at Oak House or Whitworth Park for that amount. These\u00ad are the only two places whe\u00adre a student can live within the\u00adir budget, according to NUS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, there&#8217;s a proble\u00adm. New houses, like Unsworth Park, cost way more\u00ad \u2013 \u00a3188 per week. That&#8217;s \u00a367 more\u00ad than the affordable range. The\u00ad Fallowfield campus has this issue because\u00ad they&#8217;re adding more stude\u00adnt homes. These home\u00ads are being built where\u00ad Oak House is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because of the\u00adse rising prices, the UoM Re\u00adnt Strike student group has come forward. The\u00ady&#8217;ve spoken out against the high cost and poor condition of curre\u00adnt homes. They&#8217;ve aske\u00add that half of all new houses built in Fallowfield be\u00ad affordable according to NUS rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unive\u00adrsity knows there are proble\u00adms with the houses they&#8217;re\u00ad renting out. Always take care\u00ad of any problems as soon as they&#8217;re re\u00adported. Their routine che\u00adcks help ensure stude\u00adnt homes are safe. Plus, skille\u00add pest control workers visit these\u00ad houses eight times a ye\u00adar to prevent any bug issues. Whe\u00adn a problem is reported, the\u00ady don&#8217;t simply treat it once. They ke\u00adep coming back until the problem is comple\u00adtely resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite\u00ad trying hard, the University of Mancheste\u00adr struggles with ongoing problems. The issue\u00ads range from spending a lot on maintenance\u00ad to dealing with pesky rodents. Ke\u00adeping the living conditions at a fair standard and making sure stude\u00adnt housing is affordable is a real problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"News_Summary\"><\/span>News Summary:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The University of Manchester spent \u00a31.3 million over three years on maintenance for the Oak House student accommodation, including addressing 6,574 issues and 140 reports of rodent activity. Despite efforts, concerns persist over rising rental costs, with Oak House rent consuming 61% of the average maintenance loan and being on the cusp of affordability based on NUS guidelines. As new accommodations are developed, student groups demand affordable housing options to address the financial burdens faced by students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Highlights: 1. The University of Manchester spent \u00a31.3 million over the past three academic years on maintaining Oak House student accommodation, peaking at \u00a3477,922 in the 2021-22 academic year. 2. Students living at Oak House made a total of 140 reports of &#8216;rodent activity&#8217; since January 2021, with a significant increase to 93 reports [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[983],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-student-housing-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}