UCC staff asked to take students in amid growing housing crisis

Accommodation has grown scarce in the people's republic.

Staff in University College Cork (UCC) have been asked to take in students for the impending academic year as the growing housing crisis that's sweeping the country has been encapsulated in the south. According to the Times, faculty received an email from the university asking to give up their spare rooms, as hundreds of students are unable to find accommodation. The email continued to say that UCC hoped to cover enough base for some 40 students who have not yet managed to find suitable places to live. “I don’t think [there’s been] as much uptake as we’d like," UCC SU Deputy President Kelly Coyle said, adding that while some lecturers and members had expressed an interest, more were needed. ''We’re just putting a bit more of a push on it. It’s the first time that it’s been done within the college. The email was only sent last week so there might be a bit more take-up over time.” She urged more to step forward if they felt that they could spare the space. This follows weeks of protests by UCC and CIT students’ unions outside freshly built accommodation that they believe was too highly priced. Student accommodation prices have risen by up to 15% in some areas in the last year, with one new complex on Western Road in Cork set to charge students more than €200 a week.