Hard-up students cram in '20 to a flat' | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Rotorua students are struggling to cope with everyday living costs and are being forced to live in overcrowded flats.

Tertiary students flatting in the city are sharing bedrooms and using living rooms as bedrooms to save money on rents, with four students living in one-bedroom flats and up to 20 people living in three-to four-bedroom properties.

The Rotorua students say they can't secure enough work to help with living costs, so sharing rents with groups of other students is a way to save money.

Waiariki Institute of Technology student Marlise de Vries, who has been elected head of Waiariki Institute of Technology's Student Association (WITSA) for 2012 and is currently vice-president, says she has heard about students living in overcrowded flats with up to 20 people staying in a two to three bedroom house.

Most of the situations she had heard about involved three to six people living in a two-bedroom flat or up to 20 people living together, sleeping on mattresses in the living room.

"Most come from overseas and they're moving to an empty house," she said.

It was common for international students to live in such a way because they arrived in New Zealand having to pay international student fees and couldn't afford living costs. She said some also used the Foodbank because they were struggling.

Two Waiariki International students spoken to by The Daily Post said they both lived in separate one-bedroom flats with three others. They shared bedrooms and the living area with other students, paying rent of about $40 each.

While it was hard to live in the group situation and not having their own space, the students said they struggled to cope with living costs and couldn't afford to live any other way.

One of those students, a 20-year-old IT student, said as part of her Visa she could work 20 hours a week but found it hard to secure a part-time job, despite signing up with Jobsearch. A 19-year-old hospitality student said she also struggled to find work, which was why she was forced to live with three others in a one-bedroom flat.

They said the maximum tenants allowed in their flats were two people.

Waiariki director of special services Paramdip Singh said international students could pay about $18,000 in fees and although they saved a bit of money before moving here, most assumed they could pay for their everyday living costs through working to support themselves.

However, jobs were scarce due to the recession and with the Psa disease affecting kiwifruit orchards in Te Puke, there were limited jobs available for them. He said hundreds of their students relied on the kiwifruit industry to provide part-time work.

Although many of the students were from middle to upper-middle class families, they didn't want to ask their families for money and would save money any way they could.

Richard Evans, of Rotorua Rentals, said it had a few international students who rented properties but Rotorua in general didn't have a big student market.

Although he hadn't heard about overcrowding and didn't think it was a major issue in Rotorua, he said that didn't mean it didn't happen in the city. Tenancy agreements wouldn't allow overcrowding for health and safety reasons.

"We're not aware of overcrowding ... it doesn't mean to say it doesn't exist."