HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS MSP THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND NUS SCOTLAND STUDENT HOUSING CAMPAIGN

SNP MSP Emma Roddick, attending a rally outside the Scottish Parliament in support of the Fix Student Housing campaign on Wednesday [23^RD MARCH], expressed her support for the campaign’s aims and pledged to work to end substandard housing conditions experienced by Scotland’s students.

The campaign, organised by the National Union of Students, seeks to increase awareness of problems with the cost and quality of student housing, end student homelessness and highlight the limited rights students have compared to other tenants.

Commenting, Roddick said:

“Thanks in no small part to a decade of Tory austerity, our students face remarkable housing precarity that no one should be going through.

“A recent survey by NUS Scotland has found that 12% of students have experienced homelessness and 8% have had to rely on foodbanks to survive. As someone whose entire life has been deeply shaped by both of these experiences it breaks my heart to know many are struggling in this way while also facing the usual challenges of student life.

“Fixing student housing will have positive knock-on effects on the entire housing market, and I hope to help play a part in this in my work as an MSP.”