Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:

(1) The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC) and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) do not collect data on student accommodation and reliable figures are difficult to obtain. A 2010 survey by Universities Australia found that 34 of Australia’s 39 universities formally provide accommodation for students and that universities provide a total of 42,620 beds.

(2) A number of agencies are involved in assessing the appropriateness of housing across the spectrum of tenure options, including the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and DSEWPaC. For example, DSEWPaC supports the National Housing Supply Council to prepare the annual State of Supply Report. DSEWPaC and DEEWR do not collect data on current housing needs for students. Demand for student housing may be monitored either by universities or by the private sector, often in collaboration with tertiary education providers.

(3) The National Rental Affordability Scheme which supports the development of affordable rental accommodation for low to moderate income households, is managed by DSEWPaC. DEEWR provides capital works support through the Commonwealth Grant Scheme and higher education infrastructure programs. However, these programs are not specifically targeted towards student accommodation. DEEWR infrastructure programs include:

A list of programs and the alignment of their objectives with the development of student accommodation is at Table 1.

Table 1: Sources of Australian Government Capital Funding for Student Accommodation

(4) As noted above, the Commonwealth does not currently collect data on student accommodation. A summary of full and part time students by state and territory is at Table 2.

Table 2 Number of Full time and part-time students by state and territory (2009 student data).

(5) To date, 31 applications for NRAS Incentives have been received from universities or educational institutions since the commencement of the program on 1 July 2008.

(6) As at 20 June 2011, 2,681 incentives have been offered and accepted by universities or other educational institutions with 467 dwellings delivered.

(7) (a) (b) (c) Noting the answer to question 5, the table below provides information about each supported application where the applicant is a university or other educational institution.

*There were no specifically identified or other educational institution applications in Round 1.