Over 1,000 Limerick College students may be left without accommodation when the academic year starts next month

More than 1,000 students could be left homeless in Limerick when the college year starts next month, an accommodation provider has warned.

Entrepreneur Colm Moore – who runs a website that connects renters to vacancies – has predicted an “Armageddon” scenario, with hundreds of first-graders scrambling for a home.

Many students are already coming to the city and asking their parents door-to-door in hopes of getting a roof over their heads, he said.

It comes as Limerick’s three colleges – the University of Limerick, the Technological University of the Shannon and Mary Immaculate College – launched a joint effort to persuade homeowners to use any vacant rooms they have for the upcoming academic year to rent to students.

With college attendance expected to be higher than in the last two years due to the end of Covid-19 restrictions, a University of Limerick spokesman said demand for accommodation was “at its highest in living memory”.

Mr Moore, who lives on the north side of Limerick, believes
that up to 4,500 new college students will come to the treaty city next month.

He has collected data from inquiries on his own website, StandOutRenters, which matches home seekers with potential landlords.

“From a number of applicants per room perspective, a decent room in a decent house at a decent price in Raheen would be 400-450, with 180-200 for Corbally,” he said.

Add Castletroy, near the University of Limerick, and the demand becomes much higher.

He said many landlords have had to turn off their phones due to the sheer volume of calls they receive from people interested in a room.

“There are generally about 2,000 people looking for a room (at StandoutRenters),” said Mr. Moore.

He said students could increase their chances of getting housing if they were willing to live further away.

“If a renter is willing to bike or drive 15 minutes, that could increase the number of properties they could live in tenfold,” he said.

He pointed to areas like Lisnagry, Ballingarry, Patrickswell and Kildimo as places where there is a lot of empty space.

For the first time, the University of Limerick has appointed a Student Accommodation Officer to assist in finding off-campus accommodation that may be available for its students.

A spokesman for the university asked all students to keep an eye on a special section of their website that also includes details on accommodation.

However, the dire prediction of students being left without accommodation has raised yet again the prospect of students having to make arduous trips back and forth to Limerick from their family homes in various counties across the country.

Last year it emerged that some students coming to Limerick were living in city hotels and paying up to €400 a week due to a lack of suitable accommodation.

There were just 10 apartments available for rent in the city of Limerick last week.