The government ruling forces have reduced student housing to a luxury

Statement by AKEL Political Bureau member & Head of the Economy Policy Charis Polycarpou

For another year, the cost of housing for hundreds of students is enormous and, combined with the surge in price increases, makes the daily life of students even more difficult.

For the government of the DISY party, however, it does not appear to be a problem that they have made student housing a luxury item. After making sure that they handed out thousands of ‘golden’ passports that inflated rents in urban centres and after having curbed student welfare, today the government ruling forces are turning a blind eye to the absence of social policies to provide support to students.

The DISY government’s social callousness is glaring, but the absence of a state social policy to provide support to students can’t continue. AKEL’s position is that the state has an obligation to confront the high cost of living and it should proceed to do so immediately:

First, the state must elaborate a plan to cover the increased cost of student accommodation

Second, the budget of the state student care scheme must be strengthened in order to adjust it to the increased cost of living because of the ongoing price increases.

The DISY government needs to give explanations, first and foremost to students because their access to dignified housing cannot be a privilege, but a right.