Jason Leman
Jason Leman responds to the Sheffield Telegraph.
Dear Editor
Your front page headline stated “Overseas students forcing rent rises” (Thursday 30th August), but lacked hard evidence. Rent has increased nationally at around 4% a year, exactly what we have seen in Sheffield. Nothing to do with Sheffield’s influx of international students, everything to do with inflation and the rental market overall. The number of new
apartments has virtually doubled the population of the city centre in the
past few years, the vast majority occupied by city centre workers and home
students. Many international students end up quite a way from the city
centre and, because they have so little time to get it sorted, often
struggle to find good accommodation. Given student numbers in the city are
falling and the Government is doing everything it can to trash the
multi-billion pound business that is international student recruitment, the
pressure on student flats is likely to decrease.
The real need is for affordable housing, both for families and those on Housing Benefit about to be hit with new rules on sharing accommodation. It is a mistake in every way
to blame international students who bring goodwill and good money into Sheffield.
Yours
Jason Leman
This letter responds to a controversial front page article in the Sheffield Telegraph