Report outlines how to avoid ghost towns caused by 'studentification'

A new report that identifies ways to help councils manage high concentrations of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) was published by former Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint.

'Studentification' of university towns is a real concern especially during the summer months when neighbourhoods are left dormant because too many properties (Houses in Multiple Occupation, HMOs) in one area are rented to groups of students.

For example students from Queens University, Belfast typically live within a mile of campus and make up more than half of all households in the area with some streets exclusively occupied by students.

The independent research sets out a series of cross cutting measures that could tackle and stop the complex causes and symptoms of concentrated student neighbourhoods. The measures include new planning mechanisms and the widespread adoption of a number of the best common sense local solutions that can be easily adopted.

• Prevent new enclaves by considering changes to the Use Classes Order planning rules allowing for HMOs to be brought under greater council control. This has already been adopted in Northern Ireland.
• Capping and controlling the distribution and the dispersal of HMOs by using the local planning system to set up 'areas of restraint', which have been shown to help balance communities. Nottingham has already established a threshold of 25 per cent per neighbourhood.
• Universities and student unions should develop housing and community strategies that include: community liaison officers; student codes of conduct; neighbourhood helplines; and use of authorised student accommodation agents to help protect students from bad tenancy deals. Many universities have already invested heavily in new student halls which could help ease pressures.
• Councils should target resources such as refuse/letting board collections, street cleansing, fly posting controls at key times in the academic year; establish landlord accreditation schemes; link the demand with regeneration opportunities; work with universities to consider purpose built accommodation; and make better use of their HMO licensing and empty property powers.