The social housing and university sectors in Northern Ireland will both be badly hit from coronavirus

Over four decades sheltered housing (in all its forms) moved from being seen as a form of prison accommodation for OAPs to becoming a lifestyle choice for people who were in their 50s+.

Housing associations have invested heavily in sheltered housing, but such housing loses its lifestyle freedoms in time of pandemics.

Who today would take up a tenancy in a sheltered housing scheme, or which daughter would now place her mother in a nursing or care home unless there were no other options?

Which person living in solitary confinement in a sheltered scheme for the last month is not thinking of giving up their tenancy to return to living with greater freedom if further lockdowns can be expected?

The housing associations will start to lose high levels of income as void levels increase.

Community based housing associations and housing associations that have a high ratio of communal properties will suffer worst.

The resulting inability to borrow to build other new-build social housing and hence the management of coronavirus may impact upon future social housing programs giving rise to increased homelessness.

Government cannot be expected to bail out the third sector housing providers faced with decreased tax revenues, increased welfare payments and higher national debt interest payments.

The NI university sector will also face negative impact from Covid-19. This sector is more dependent upon government funding than the sector in England and Wales.

The Scottish university sector will face problems as the Scottish government faces astronomical demands upon its welfare subsidies across many different policy areas.

Third level learning has gone on-stream and the energy provided for distance learning by the virus will mean more competitor online university providers such as the Open University and University of Reading’s College of Estate Management.

The NI universities will increase online learning, but students will also be aware how unsatisfactory this type of learning is when engaged with for three to five years.

The numbers of university students from the Far East will reduce and this will impact on certain academic disciplines, post-graduate programs and student housing provision. The loss in student income will be substantial and the NI universities may come to regret having marginalised some sections of the NI population.

The Ulster University which has invested heavily in China will take an economic hit. The UU has already over-invested in the York Street campus and had to get an additional £130 million Stormont bail out.

The universities and private market housing providers have invested large sums of money providing ‘student halls’ in the north side of Belfast. These investments will suffer if the NI student foreign population falls by 10-15%.

Students who could not terminate rental agreements with private landlords in the Holylands might not want to return to poorly regulated Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO).

With unemployment levels bound to increase, students will start to question the value of a social sciences degree.

Increased funding demands on Stormont by all sectors (policing, health, welfare, education) will lead to reduction in the size of NI university sector to match that within the NI social housing sector.

—— ——

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor