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What Communities Want
Dr Richard Tyler
Co-ordinator, National HMO Lobby
Presentation to NUS Forum Students and the Community
London, 2 March 2007
1. What Communities Want
Q What do communities want?
A They want what all social or biological organisations
want – to sustain themselves!
Ref: Richard Tyler,
‘Comprehending Community’ in S Herbrechter &
M Higgins, eds, Returning to Communities, Amsterdam, 2006
2. Students and Communities: Two Models
# Students in the Community = no problems
# Studentification (students in stead of the community)
= many problems, and deep
Ø The Tipping-Point? 20% population
Ref: National HMO Lobby, Balanced
Communities
3. Studentification: Definition
# Studentification: “The substitution of a local community
by a student community.”
(students move in)
But also problematic are -
# De- Studentification (students move out)
# Internal Migration (students move about)
Ref: National HMO Lobby, Studentification
4. Studentification: Problems - Structural
For example, Headingley Ward (Leeds) -
# Population: most unbalanced (only 7% children, 8 % elderly - normally
20% each)
# Polarisation: most one-sided (60% are young adults/seasonal/transient)
# Participation: least engaged (18% local election turnout, half
city average 36%)
5. Studentification: Problems - Functional
For example, Headingley Ward (Leeds) -
# Social: worst domestic burglary hotspot (bigger than the other
five together)
# Environmental: worst recycling rate (8%, against 24% city average)
# Economic: most regulated (Area of Housing Mix, HMO Licensing,
Direction on Letting Boards, Flyer Control Zone, Cumulative Impact
Policy (alcohol licences), Designated Public Places Order (public
drinking); and pending, CIP (take-away licences), Additional HMO
Licensing)
Ref: National HMO Lobby, Symptoms
of Studentification
6. Studentification: Problems - Affective
# Numbers: exclusion (public marginalisation, private isolation)
# Functions: alienation (social, environmental, economic: see previous)
# Structures: disempowerment
7. Studentification: Solutions - Principles
# Partnership - all stakeholders (LAs, CAs, HEIs, SUs, PRS –
and HMG)
# Cause and Effect - structural causes, as well as symptoms
# Local and National - local action, and national empowerment
Ref: National HMO Lobby, Ten
Point Plan
8. Studentification: Solutions - Actions
# Co-ordination: Accommodation Audit, Action Forum, Action Plan
# Housing: HMO Licensing (including Additional HMO Licensing),
local Housing Strategy
# Planning: Areas of Restraint, Thresholds, Purpose-Built Development;
lobby on Use Classes Order
9. Studentification: Solutions - Agencies
# Community Associations: building capacity, campaigning, even
intervening
# Student Unions: engagement, local leadership, local lobbying,
national lobbying
# Other Partners - HEIs: engagement, intervention
LAs: leadership, intervention
PRS: engagement, intervention
HMG: empowerment
10. Studentification: Difficulties
# Volatility: extreme mobility of student populations
# Different Agendas: short-term or long-term?
# The Groundhog Effect: changing population, changing leadership
A version of this paper was also presented as 'Students in the
Community: Studentification' to the Annual Conference of ASRA (Association
for Residential Student Accommodation), Swansea, 3 April 2007, and
again to the South East Regional Meeting of ASRA in Grenwich, 7
June 2007; the synopsis read: " ‘Students in the Community’
and ‘Studentification’ are in fact two alternative models
of the relation between students and communities. The former is
not problematic, but the latter is deeply problematic, especially
for the communities concerned. The problems take a variety of forms,
both structural (demograpgic) and functional (social, environmental,
economic), as well as impacting on the overall well-being of residents.
Solutions are available. They depend on key principles (of co-ordination).
They entail joined-up management, housing measures, and planning
policies. And they depend on pro-active engagement by key stakeholders
(including HEIs)."
National HMO Lobby
email: hmolobby@hotmail.com
website: www.hmolobby.org.uk
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