Quod’s socio-economic team specialises in the effect development has on the surrounding area, and has been involved in many student developments around London. The local impact of student housing is an important question because its growth has seen an equal and opposite reaction from the planning system.

•Boroughs are starting to include restrictions in Core Strategies on where student housing can go •Some are proposing “punitive” Community Infrastructure Levy charges to discourage student housing •Others are seeking affordable housing contributions, greatly raising the cost of student housing •And in some places refusals and planning appeals have resulted

It seems that everyone recognises the benefit to London of having students, but not everyone wants them in their back yard. But what are we so afraid of?

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Could it be down to this house? 25 Broadway Road, Bristol Or at least thousands of houses just like it.

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This was the home of the 1980s comedy The Young Ones – an anarchic and destructive student house-share. For last couple of decades the debate around student housing in the UK has focused on the problems caused by this type of House in Multiple Occupation (HMO), and the issue of “studentification” of traditional residential areas. This is particularly a problem where there is a big university in a small city, where whole neighbourhoods can become dominated by student HMOs – generally not an issue that London has faced. Yet this debate still seems to have coloured reactions to new student accommodation in London, with many residents fearing the effects. But in reality, the problems identified actually come from two issues that are specific to HMOs

1. They are unmanaged 2. They can displace other households from the area

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We need to be careful not to apply the same thinking to purpose built student accommodation. Developments such as this – the world’s tallest student hall, in Spitalfields – and many other new ones around London, are most certainly managed (often with excellent on-site facilities) And they do not displace existing residential communities. In fact, they are more likely to be at the vanguard of bringing residents into regeneration areas, town centres and commercial districts.

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It’s an altogether different prospect from the Young Ones House But again and again the same fears are nonetheless raised in planning for new student developments

•Will it bring anti-social behaviour? •Will it turn the high-street into a row of kebab shops? (kebabification?!) •Will it damage regeneration and discourage investment

The evidence so far from the new wave of student housing in London suggests that the answer to all of these is a resounding “no”, and indeed the impact is most likely to be quite positive. Problems such as anti-social behaviour, or failing high streets dominated by takeaways are real, but nowhere in London are they caused by concentrations of student housing. In fact in many cases, student populations can help mitigate these problems by bringing activity and spending.

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Let’s look at the evidence. First of all – house prices, which is a pretty good proxy for whether an area is desirable and attractive. This is new research undertaken by Quod, based on Land Registry data:

•House prices in the vicinity (postcode sector) of new student halls •6 schemes across London •each with 250 to 1,000 student bed spaces •showing up to 10 years before and after

Grey vertical line shows year of opening, and the black line shows the aggregated price trend. This data provides absolutely no evidence that house buyers were put off an area by the opening of big new student halls.

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But what about investors – do student halls discourage housebuilders? Here are the results of a further Quod study of:

•16 schemes in London •Showing average levels of net additional housing in the ward, in the years before and after the opening.

The peak in the middle represents the opening of the student halls themselves, and again we found no evidence in this study to suggest that developers were discouraged from investing in the area afterwards. Indeed many of these schemes seemed to have been followed by substantial investment in the local area. For example UNITE’s Julian Markham House on Walworth Road. When it opened in 2004 it was one of the first big new residential developments in the area for many years, but has since been followed by other (non-student) housing such as the Strata tower, and new moves to redevelop the Heygate estate. Similarly UNITE’s investment in Emily Bowes Court in 2008 was crucial to helping Tottenham Hale’s regeneration continue through the recession.

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Should it really be so surprising if purpose built student accommodation is good for an area? After all there are hundreds of thousands of students living right across London, and many of the areas of highest concentration are not ones we associate with anti-social behaviour or deprivation. The Ward in London with the highest concentration of students is...

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....Bloomsbury. (Here’s Connaught Hall) Knightsbridge ward also makes the top ten. If this is studentification London style, then perhaps it’s something we could do with more of...

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So if evidence does not support fears about negative effects of student housing, what does it say about positives?

Spending •Significant local effect – can be higher than for an equivalent scale resi block (high density and students spend more than they earn!) •International students alone bring more than £2.5bn in spending to London

Low demand on community infrastructure •No demands on local schools, low NHS demand (mostly healthy young people) •Use university facilities including health centres and sports facilities

Animation – creates a safer environment and busier streets in new regeneration areas

Involvement •Volunteering – student volunteers are the mainstay of many charities •New student halls an excellent opportunity for local community groups

Skills •Students in halls often put down roots in an area and stay locally when graduating – a steady source of skilled local residents for the future •UNITE’s survey of two halls in Haringey and Camden found around half of students were considering staying in the area when they graduated and started work.

Investment •Demonstrates viability to other investors – hard to prove cause or effect, but student housing is the front-runner in many regeneration schemes •In the current housing climate, it may be much the most effective way to kick-start regeneration areas

Relieving HMO pressure •Far from causing “studentification”, purpose built halls put students in managed environments, reduce pressure for HMOs and free up housing for other residents.

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Finally, just a reminder that student halls are not a new or worrying trend They’ve been around for a long time (Here’s one from the 15th century – Queens’ College Cambridge), and continue to make a very positive contribution to their local area. Perhaps it’s time we finally learn to welcome them, and the economic benefits they bring?

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