What would housing as a human right mean for students?

Imagine two students enrolled in the same degree. One lives within easy reach of campus and works one or two shifts a week. The other lives further away because that is where they can afford the rent, spends hours commuting and works several shifts to cover their housing costs. 

Both have somewhere to live. But do they have the same opportunity to make the most of university? 

Where and how students live can shape their university experience, from the time and energy they have for study to their ability to participate in campus life and pursue other opportunities. 

For Professor Jessie Hohmann, who researches the right to housing, this reflects a much broader connection between housing and the opportunities people have in life. 

“Quality of housing is tightly knitted in with the ability to enjoy other things that we understand as human rights, such as education, family life, privacy or health,” she says. 

When housing affects education 

For a student living further from campus, staying for an event might mean arriving home late after a long commute. Taking an unpaid internship or volunteering in their field may be impossible when every available hour is needed for paid work. 

Poor-quality, overcrowded or insecure accommodation can also affect health, concentration and the ability to study at home. 

Hohmann sees how these pressures can prevent students from engaging deeply with their education. 

“They don’t have the time to really dig in and have that intellectual curiosity and really be there to have that deep learning experience, because there are too many pressures on them,” she says. 

“One of those pressures is just maintaining adequate housing.” 

For Hohmann, this highlights why housing affordability is about more than the rent itself. It also includes whether housing allows students to balance work, study and university life. 

“If the net impact of living a long way from the university is that you can’t maintain both your studies and a paid job because there aren’t enough hours in the day, then your housing isn’t really affordable,” she says.

Who faces the greatest barriers? 

Housing pressures do not affect every student in the same way. 

Hohmann says international students can face particular barriers. Unfamiliarity with Australian tenancy laws and a lack of local rental history can leave them more vulnerable to exploitative rental practices, excessive rents and overcrowded or substandard accommodation. 

Regional and remote students who move away to study may not have the option of living with family or commuting from home. Students on lower incomes or without financial support may also have fewer alternatives when housing becomes unaffordable, unsuitable or insecure. 

For some students, limited housing options can shape their choices before they even reach the classroom. 

“When you have very constrained housing options because of affordability, access or availability, you have to make decisions about your education that might not be ideal,” Hohmann says. 

“You might have to give up your dreams because you can’t go to the university of your choice, take the program of your choice or be taught by the academics you dreamed of being taught by.” 

These barriers can have consequences beyond an individual student’s university experience. 

“Housing unaffordability increases social inequality, which has a big impact on people’s ability to benefit from their education,” Hohmann says.

“That, in turn, entrenches inequality across society.”

A legal and policy lens 

If housing can shape a student's education, opportunities and future outcomes, how should governments respond?

For Hohmann, one approach is to think about housing as a human right. This means putting access to housing for individuals, families and communities at the heart of decisions about housing.

“The heart of the right to housing is a place to live in dignity, peace and security,” she says. 

The right is recognised under international law, and Australia has accepted obligations relating to it. However, Australians generally cannot claim it through domestic courts. 

Legal recognition would not mean governments must give everyone a house or guarantee home ownership. Instead, the focus is on whether people have access to housing that is adequate, secure and affordable. 

For students, that could mean somewhere stable enough to study and plan ahead, affordable without sacrificing other necessities, and within reasonable reach of campus, work and everyday life. 

It could also provide a way to assess the impact of housing policies and laws. 

“You could think of it as a lens through which other policy and legal decisions should be made,” Hohmann says. 

“Will this policy, will this law increase access to adequate housing for everyone, or will it have a negative impact? Will it make housing harder to access, more unequal, more unaffordable, more poorly located or poorly supported?” 

This approach also challenges the idea that housing security depends on owning a home. Hohmann points to Vienna, where social housing is widespread, generally high quality and well located. 

“It doesn't attract a social stigma,” she says. 

Other countries have used measures such as longer leases, rent controls and stronger tenant protections to provide greater security for renters. 

“The important question shouldn't really be about whether you own a home, but about whether your home is adequate, secure and stable,” Hohmann says.

What could a right to housing change? 

Legal recognition would not make every student’s rent cheaper overnight or guarantee accommodation close to campus. Its impact would depend on how the right was interpreted and applied. 

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) provides an early example of what this could look like. Its new right to adequate housing is due to commence on 1 January 2027, making it the first jurisdiction in the country to take this step. 

Hohmann describes the development as significant, while cautioning that its impact will depend on how courts interpret the right and how governments apply it. 

For students, she says one potential benefit is greater protection against discrimination in the rental market. 

“With new rental technology that uses algorithms to sort and screen tenants, the potential for discriminating against students in the tenancy process is basically greater than ever,” Hohmann says. 

She says factors such as lower incomes, student debt or a lack of rental history could disadvantage students when they are screened for rental properties. 

The ACT reform will provide an opportunity to see how recognising the right shapes government decision-making and accountability, and whether it ultimately improves access to adequate housing. 

Ultimately, recognising housing as a human right asks us to look beyond whether students simply have somewhere to live. 

The question is whether their housing gives them the security and stability they need to make the most of their education and plan for their future.