LONDON; LIVEABLE OR LAMENTABLE??

Living in London is fantastic but one of the major struggles I had living there was the expensive and lack of accommodation. Before arriving in London, I struggled to find student accommodation. They said London has a rental crisis but it really shows when you are 3 weeks away from flying out and still unsure of where you are going to live. After being rejected from a lease, weeks from flying out, I found a student accommodation building in zone 4. This meant an added 40 minute commute to university, work and social activities all in zone 1 everyday as well as a minimum of 8 pound a day for the transport.

This article on the BBC talks about the opening of new communal living quarters in central London to help provide “options for those who either cannot afford, do not want to buy and may not qualify for, affordable housing.”

My student accommodation was 225 pound a week which amounts to 500 Australian dollars a week. The average student accommodation in London, according to “Casita” is 1500 pound a month = 375 pound a week. Therefore roughly 750 Australian dollars a week.

Scape Wembley

This alone is an astronomical disadvantage for people wanting to study abroad or move to London who may not have the funds. It’s important to have affordable options for students, as studying is a full time job and restricts people from being able to earn acceptable income.

So the relevance of this article shows us the developments into supporting people wanting to make this kind of leap. A table from “UniAcco” displays the average living costs a student living in London as of 2024.

London is such an incredibly opportunistic city that these kinds of movements created by the City of London Corporation saying "typically let at more affordable rates" and provide alternative options to traditional affordable housing” are so beneficial to these ambitious students.

Moving on from the rental prices themselves, like myself, if students are forced to navigate accommodation in the outer suburbs of London commuting becomes just as important in budgeting to the accommodation costs.

Living in Wembley Park was definitely a special experience as I was practically on top of the stadium and got to immerse myself in the history of sports and entrainment. However, my average £56 a week was incredibly crushing and according to UniAcco says ‘students in London spend about £156 per month on public transport.”

So now you might be thinking what the relevance to this article after all these statistics? Well besides the financial aspect, after my personal experience from living in in London as a student, the accessibility to communal spaces is amazing for social interaction. London is such a huge city that it can be incredibly lonely if you do not appropriately set yourself up.

This BBC article highlights these new rental units come with “communal cooking, dining and working areas” which helps with overcoming these isolated feelings. A major struggle of moving to a new city can be finding new group of friends and a social life and may put people off putting themselves out there in fear of loneliness. I was very determined to find a shared accommodation building when going on exchange to improve my chances of meeting as many people as possible.

The “corporation’s planning and transportation committee, Shravan Joshi said” this new accommodation will be aimed towards “young people, as we continue to transform the Square Mile into a thriving seven-day and evening destination, for everyone.”

This progress in creating more affordable and social accommodation in central London is such an ideal opportunity for students and other young people looking to embark on a life changing journey.

So go on n get out,

Misti xx