Housing, an ever-increasing burden for students

"I'm ready to rent anything," says Alice Martins, 18, a discouraged woman from Lorraine who still has no accommodation solution a week before starting her first year of law school in the capital.

The young woman, who started looking as soon as she learned of her posting on Parcoursup, discovered the narrowness of the rental market, its high cost but also its merciless solvency guarantees.

"My mother is my only guarantor. She is a school teacher, not a CEO," Alice Martins grumbles.

"Every time I visited, there were a lot of people, people queuing up the stairs, you can feel that there is too much demand compared to the supply," says Emma Hugues, 20, a communications student in Paris.

"We have nothing this year," confirms Katia Bouzit, manager of a Parisian real estate agency. "When we publish an ad for a typical 'student' accommodation on our site, 70 people apply and it's gone within an hour," she continues.

Households that no longer leave their small spaces, unoccupied housing, low number of new housing units built, transfer of properties to tourist rentals all contribute to drying up the market in Paris and in large university cities.

"Even when I go to look in agencies, they put up notices saying that there are no more available accommodations," says Emmanuel Arsac, a 23-year-old student from Lille. "And prices have increased compared to previous years."

"Rental tension is the same everywhere, across the entire territory of France," confirms Loïc Cantin, president of Fnaim.

To avoid suffering from this situation, students are sometimes forced to keep their studio during the summer, which means additional costs. And internships in another city can be a headache.

Housing, expense No. 1

"Last year, we had 13% fewer rotations delivered by tenants at the time of the deadline, particularly in July. This year, it's 30% fewer vacations," underlines the president of Fnaim.

In Paris, where 392.000 students are enrolled in higher education, 36% more than at the beginning of the 2000s, "there are only 350.000 private rental homes left. That's reduced by 8.000 homes per year," illustrates Jacques Baudrier, communist deputy for housing at Paris city hall.

"There is nothing left to rent", but "80%" of private rentals meet the criteria sought by student profiles, i.e. "from studios to two-room apartments", reports Mr. Baudrier.

In July, the elected official had sounded the alarm against the risk of finding tens of thousands of students "on the streets" at the start of the school year.

Back to school after back to school, student unions are warning about housing, by far "the biggest expense for students", according to Fage.

According to the student union's calculations, rent alone represents on average more than 45% of the daily living costs of a student in the provinces (520 euros), and even 50% in Ile-de-France (688 euros).

The insufficiency of the social rental stock is being singled out. The Crous offer nearly 175.000 places for a total of 240.000 social student housing units in 2024. That is one Crous unit for every 17 students (one for every 34 in the Ile-de-France region and one for every 48 in Paris). Too few, according to many higher education stakeholders.

The resigning government, which has given itself a roadmap on the subject in 2023, highlights the 30.000 new Crous housing units delivered since 2017 and still promises a total of 65.000 new properties available by the end of Macron's second five-year term.

In June, before the early legislative elections, Emmanuel Macron made a "mea culpa" to the press on access to housing for young people: "It is a subject on which we have not made enough progress and where the response has been too timid, and I bear responsibility for that."

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.