Adelaide City Council powerless to stop student slums

ADELAIDE councils are powerless to stop international students being unsafely crammed into city accommodation, it has been revealed.

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ADELAIDE councils are powerless to stop international students being unsafely crammed into city accommodation, it has been revealed.

Adelaide City Council documents show legislation is needed to allow inspectors to stop city apartments from being partitioned by temporary walls and then overcrowded with students.

Recommendations have been drafted by council staff to solve the problem via powers under new legislation and a licensing system.

One recent but undated briefing prepared for Councillors by staff, states that requests for action to improve safety are ignored by landlords.

“Council has legal advice and experience which confirms it is difficult and impracticable to deal with overcrowding related issues within the current legislative environment,’’ the briefing states.

It states: “The investigation of reports of overcrowding is invasive, time consulting and costly and quite often does not permit the taking of action’’.

State Government figures show more than 20,000 international students are enrolled in South Australia, doubling in the last ten years, injecting an estimated $900 million to the state each year, and creating an estimated 7400 jobs.

Another recent but undated Adelaide City Council briefing warns that because of “cost of living pressures” international students are “accessing less than optimum housing options’’.

“In doing so students may be forgoing their rights as tenants, leaving them open to a range of potential risks compromising their health, welfare, finances and importantly study experience,’’ it states

The briefing reveals that subletting by some students to many others is common, and that exploitation of the student tenants sometimes begins “offshore and online”.

The Adelaide City Council has been proactively tackling the issue since 2012 when it set up an Accommodation Working Party, but it has no backing in state legislation. The establishment of the working party followed a Residential Tenancies Tribunal hearing in which it was revealed 53 students were living in 12 one-bedroom apartments at one Adelaide property. But the tribunal can only act when it receives complaints, and in the case of the 53 students could only order that they leave.

Xenophon Team MLC John Darley said rules should be in place to make sure Adelaide protected the safety and satisfaction of international students, because they made a significant contribution to the city’s life and economy.

He said he had requested documents from the Adelaide City Council using the Freedom of Information Act to make sure students were not being exploited on their brief stays in Adelaide, while studying at the city’s three universities and other institutions.

“This issue has been around for a while and they should be on top of it,’’ Mr Darley said.

“I can remember instances were there have been fires in some of these buildings and that is a problem.’’

Mr Darley said he had visited UniSA student accommodation on North Terrace and it had been well organised and safe.

But he offered to meet with Adelaide City Council representatives to see if they wanted a private member’s bill to provide more legislative power to act on rogue landlords.

“The problem happens when people are crammed into these places and I can imagine it could become a safety issue,’’ he said.

“These buildings are all-student accommodation, it is not as though there is one overcrowded apartment and that is it.’’