Summer Series: The Vulture Ate My Student Housing
This year's summer series is coming to a close! We did things a little differently this year, revisiting some of our favorite episodes from across all six seasons, and giving you updates on the guests and topics at the top of each episode.
No matter where you are - we hope you enjoy the final episode of the 2023 Summer Series!
Students the world over head to university filled with hopes and dreams for the future. But to pursue those dreams requires secure housing and that’s where the nightmare begins. The co-hosts swap stories of student life in London, Lagos, Dublin, Seoul, and Toronto. Students are working multiple jobs to pay the rent, lobbying for the right to sleep in their cars, experiencing sexual coercion, spending hours commuting back and forth each day, and worrying about the debt they’re accruing. Just when they should be stepping into the world with energy and strength, they are being beaten down.
Lower-income students have less time to study and are leaving university with crippling debt loads, creating new patterns of inequality. The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss one of the central drivers of these conditions: student housing has become one of the hottest commodities around. It's being scooped up by global vulture funds including … you guessed it … Blackstone. This episode will make you angry and should make all of us want to push back so young people can dream again.
In recent days, the story has only gotten worse. In cities around the world, university students are facing homelessness, with many staging protests against universities that accept them without providing a proper and affordable place to stay. In Turkey, Canada, and beyond, students are pushing back against untenable housing conditions.