COVID-19 and aggravated housing precarity for international students: an Australian case study

Housing experience of international students has attracted increasing academic attention in recent years. Australia’s large international student population is largely reliant on lightly-regulated private rental housing, a market sector subject to extreme turbulence during COVID-19. However, while aspects of Australian student housing stress during the pandemic have been already investigated, the specific issues affecting a substantial component of the broader cohort have yet to be examined. Around 130,000 Australian international students were stranded overseas for two years (2020-22) by international border closures. Their experiences cast new light on vulnerable renter precarity in lightly-regulated markets. Via an online survey and in-depth interviews, this paper examines the challenges posed for stranded international students in terms of their Australian tenancies, and how these were handled. Three main findings emerge: 1) uncertainty deriving from travel restrictions reduced student bargaining power in the rental market; 2) inability to terminate leases, unfavourable rent negotiation outcomes and welfare exclusion caused serious financial stress; and 3) widespread subletting exposed students to eviction and exploitation. These findings foreground important downsides of Australia’s long-existing neoliberal university regime and inadequate student housing provision that endanger the fundamental purposes of higher education, and risk tarnishing Australia’s reputation as an international student destination.