Student accommodation scams !

Wollongong is a university city - and as a consequence there are numerous homes that have been converted into unlicensed and therefore illegal boarding houses to meet the student accommodation demand.   Most of these are in the suburbs of Gwynville, Keiraville and North Wollongong, close to the university.

Standards vary from quite reasonable - to what is little more than a sleeping pad with both kitchen and bathroom shared by a large number of people.  The more unscrupulous landlords charge a small fortune for these facilities and mostly get away with it - because overseas students studying in this country have no other choice.

Control is a council responsibility, but here council hands are tied because they have no right of entry to inspect these facilities.   The present law contains " restrictive entry powers " that require council inspectors to first go to court and acquire what is in effect a " search warrant ".   To do this, the court must be first satisfied that there is a case to answer, and that means solid evidence has to be  collected to present to the court.

The state government is considered freeing up these obligations to make entry easier - and to allow faster prosecutions to clean up this mess.  Neighbours are well aware of the location of these illegal boarding houses.   A sure giveaway is the number of people entering and exiting daily - and the number of cars parked on the property or in the street outside.

Unfortunately, providing much needed accommodation for students has a downside.   When a legitimate development application is lodged to meet this need there is usually an angry protest from nearby residents.   It is the classical NINBY syndrome.    Everybody agrees that we need decent accommodation to service our lauded tertiary institution - just so long as it is located far from where we live !

For this reason the university has taken a step in the right direction.  It's acquisition of the newly built IBIS hotel in the central city will provide one hundred and fifty student beds - and the newly installed free Shuttle bus service has removed the need for student accommodation to be clustered close to the university.

Now all we need is action to get rid of the scam merchants - and Wollongong is on the way to becoming a standards leader in the education field.