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Dig these digs — Australia, US varsities offer creative solutions to SA’s student housing crisis

Dig these digs — Australia, US varsities offer creative solutions to SA’s student housing crisis
Space being used by students who are affected by UCT housing crisis.(Photo: Ernst Calitz)
Takudzwa Pongweni
By Takudzwa Pongweni
20 Feb 2025
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The current fees and accommodation crisis at universities and TVET colleges is not new, but crops up every year as the crisis deepens, leaving many students facing substandard housing, long commutes or homelessness. It is also a global problem, but inventive solutions can be found in Australia and the US.

At the University of Cape Town, second-year student *Zanele Ndlovu is increasingly anxious about her mounting rent costs. Her off-campus accommodation alone costs R14,000 per month, excluding expenses such as water (R350), electricity, fibre on UPS (R400) and gas for the stove. “It’s incredibly frustrating, and I’m one of the fortunate ones,” she says. “But what can I do? There’s just not enough student accommodation on campus, and private landlords know they can charge more because students have few alternatives.”

Ndlovu’s predicament is far from unique. Every year, as the academic term begins, students are forced to sleep in libraries and hallways, unable to secure housing.

South Africa’s higher education system is grappling with a severe shortage of affordable and safe student accommodation, leaving many with few options: substandard housing, long and costly commutes, or homelessness.

NSFAS and policy challenges contribute to the crisis


A significant factor in the accommodation crisis is the role of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). In 2023, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande introduced a cap on accommodation allowances, reducing the amount NSFAS recipients could receive annually from R60,000 to R45,000 per student. For the current academic year, NSFAS recipients at higher education institutions are eligible for up to R45,000 annually for accommodation, while those at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges receive R33,000.

Although the policy was intended to tackle rising, unregulated accommodation costs, it has unintentionally placed a heavier financial burden on students, many of whom already face significant challenges in securing affordable housing. 

A third-year student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), who wished to remain anonymous, expressed her frustration:

“At UCT, the cost of residence accommodation ranges between R80,000 and R120,000. The burden is being placed on students from disadvantaged backgrounds to cover the shortfall, and many are left wondering how they will manage to find over R30,000 to cover the difference.”

student housing A space used by students affected by the UCT housing crisis. (Photo: Ernst Calitz)


State of purpose-built student accommodation


The Department of Higher Education and Training has outlined the Student Housing Infrastructure Programme (SHIP), which aims to provide an additional 300,000 student beds across 26 public universities and 50 TVET colleges over the next 10 years – 200,000 allocated to universities and 100,000 to TVET colleges at 300 campuses in all nine provinces.

To meet this target the number of beds provided each year must rise significantly, from the current average of 4,000 to 30,000. While the department currently contributes about R1-billion annually to student housing at universities, no funding is allocated to TVET colleges. To reach the 30,000-bed target, at least R7-billion annually is needed, with an estimated R80-billion needed for about 150 projects under the programme.

Recognising the scale of the challenge, SHIP acknowledges that the government alone cannot meet this target and has called on other stakeholders, including the private sector and development finance institutions, for support.

South Africa’s purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) market is considered the most mature on the continent. PBSA refers to housing designed and built for students, offering amenities tailored to their needs, such as study spaces, communal areas and proximity to campus. The student accommodation market is categorised into affordable, mid-range and high-end options, catering to a range of financial capabilities.

Read more: Stressed, stranded students left in housing limbo as accommodation chaos persists

However, a report from the International Finance Corporation highlights a severe mismatch between the demand for and supply of student housing. As of 2020 the demand was about 511,685 beds, with 41% required by public universities and 59% by TVET colleges. This was expected to grow significantly, with projections suggesting a need for about 781,000 beds by 2025, leaving an estimated shortfall of more than 500,000.

This ongoing shortage has led to a growing reliance on private-sector solutions for student housing. Yet, the private market’s capacity to meet the need is limited and often driven by profit, exacerbating affordability issues for many students. As a result, a significant number of them are being forced into private rental arrangements, where they face substandard living conditions, inflated rental prices and exploitation by landlords. The situation is further compounded by a rise in student accommodation scams. Vulnerable students, desperate for affordable housing, are often lured into fraudulent rental schemes through attractive online listings, only to discover that the advertised units do not exist or that landlords have disappeared with their deposits.

A global crisis and potential solutions


South Africa’s student accommodation crisis is part of a broader global issue. According to Shelter Afrique, a housing finance institution that supports housing and real estate development across Africa, universities in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya are facing severe shortages, with Kenya alone needing more than 350,000 additional beds. In west Africa, countries including Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal report that only about 25% of students have access to on-campus accommodation. In Brazil and India, rapid urbanisation and growing student populations exacerbate the problem, while nations like the US, the UK, Australia and Canada are also seeing increasing demand due to rising tuition fees and the higher cost of living.

In recent years, universities worldwide have been compelled to explore innovative solutions to address the growing shortage of affordable student housing, including housing students on river barges in the US, intergenerational living arrangements and home-sharing.

Students affected by the UCT housing crisis find themselves in an uncomfortable predicament. (Photo: Ernst Calitz)



One creative solution is the Canberra Student Housing Cooperative in Australia. Established in 2013, it aims to provide affordable housing for students amid a growing cost-of-living crisis. Housing cooperatives like this allow students to take part in the governance of their living spaces, fostering a sense of community and shared responsibility. Rent is often indexed to income, making accommodation more accessible and affordable.

Professor Louise Crabtree-Hayes, a research fellow at Western Sydney University, said there are a few hundred cooperative homes across Australia. In some Scandinavian countries cooperatives make up about 20% of all housing stock.

In the US, the Gayley Towers project at the University of California, Los Angeles offers an innovative model by transforming old apartments into collegiate cohousing. Students have private bedrooms but share living spaces and kitchens, cultivating a strong community while keeping costs low. Another strategy is prefabricated modular housing, such as cross-laminated timber, which reduces construction costs and time, enabling faster, scalable housing development.

Mobile and modular housing units can also be deployed quickly to meet the growing demand for accommodation, while prefabricated units have several key advantages: they are more affordable to build compared with brick-and-mortar buildings, can be built in a fraction of the time and have the flexibility to be relocated or reconfigured as needed.

Paavo Monkkonen, an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, emphasised the far-reaching effects of a lack of affordable housing, which affects not only students’ education but also their health, social life and overall wellbeing. DM

* Not her real name.

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