Editorial: The plan to build a large student block on the edge of Sandy Row flags up wider housing issues

The plan to build 870-bed student accommodation near the new train station in Belfast is an attempt to meet the now massive demand for student housing.

A Dublin-based developer wants to construct the scheme at a location on the verge of the Sandy Row.

This plan flags up the matter of housing priorities, for example social housing. This newspaper is a strong supporter of the principle of Right to Buy, in which council tenants can buy their home and get on the property ladder, pioneered by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. But there will always be a need for some affordable, state-owned rental properties to house the many people who are in no position to buy. This week it emerged that English councils have spent more than £1 billion repurchasing Right to Buy properties since 2020.

Social housing is all the more urgent given the way the UK population has soared through immigration. Any new housing provision, such as for students or migrants, is naturally a sensitive issue when so many people in long-established communities feel they cannot get the accommodation they need.

A second issue that arises from the plan is the appropriateness of such housing near the Sandy Row, a neighbourhood that has a strong sense of community but that feels itself targeted for change. Edwin Poots, the DUP MLA for South Belfast, is right to say that “student housing is best suited to city centre sites”.

And a third issue that arises is the massive influx of students. In many respects it is uplifting to see young people from round the world come to study in Belfast. At the same time, concerns are growing at top-tier UK politics about whether third level institutions are using it as a means to make money, rather than improve education, and whether some people from abroad see it as an easy way into the UK. It is not unreasonable to debate those concerns, yet there is little sign of Stormont doing so.