HMO quotas revisited

I’ve blogged briefly about HMO quotas before. In a nutshell: the Scottish Parliament has been wanting to introduce quotas for multiple occupancy houses/flats. Obviously, this has serious implications for certain demographic groups, namely: immigrants, students, young professionals, and generally any unrelated people who share accommodation. A year and a half ago, when this was an issue, I blogged this about it:

The Scottish Parliament ammendment to introduce Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) quotas in certain areas was withdrawn. Students are rejoicing. Discussing with friend about the issue. On the one hand I dislike the anti-HMO crowd’s battlecry of “It’s social engineering!” After all, I support affirmative action, which is some degree of social engineering. But on the other hand, I don’t see how HMO quotas would have helped. Friend argues that some areas of university cities have been almost exclusively populated by largely homogeneous and transient demographic group (namely, students). This is obviously bad for poorer people, and they can no longer afford to live in these areas. Friend argues that HMO quotas would address this problem by spreading students around the cities and resulting in a more evenly distributed population in cities. Maybe I’m missing something but I can’t see how HMO quotas would address what Friend quite rightly highlights as a real problem. But the fact is that flats in “student-heavy” areas are expensive and most people can’t afford to rent one unless there in the higher economic brackets. This leads to people sharing flats. Undoubtedly it would be a good thing if HMO quotas could address the problem in the way Friend thinks they would. But I’m concerned that instead of making “student-heavy” areas more diverse, the opposite would happen. High prices would mean that only the wealthy would be able to afford flats in these areas, so instead of being student-heavy, these areas would now simply be where the wealthy people live. Ie, one largely homogenous population would be exchanged for another. And I don’t see how that would benefit poor people.

Further to this, I would now add the following thoughts, both positive and negative:

• There is no price premium on HMO flats. It’s cheaper per person to rent a large flat between several people than a small flat between a few people. This means that accommodation that is currently HMO-licensed (or for which the landlords seek HMO licenses) and which lose the HMO license will not become cheaper in ceasing to be HMO-licensed. Thus there is no reason that previously HMO-licensed accommodation should suddenly become affordable to other demographic groups (elderly people, young families, poor people, etc) who are currently in competition for accommodation with students/young professionals/etc.
• There may well be a price premium on HMO flats if quotas are introduced. This would introduce a financial penalty for precisely the people who need to share flats because they couldn’t otherwise afford their accommodation. This seems morally flawed.
• If students can no longer afford HMO accommodation, HMO flats will start being let by professionals and other more wealthy people. Thus swapping one homogeneous population for another, and not alleviating the situation for poorer people who will not be able to afford HMO accommodation either.
• Unless it’s proposed that a number of currently HMO-licensed accommodations would lose their licenses, I can’t see how the quota would be at all effective, especially in areas that are already “student heavy”.
• On a local authority level, I’m not aware of proposals for alternative proposals for increases in HMO accommodation and facilities in areas that are not currently “student heavy”. If you decrease the HMO accommodation in some areas, there has to be suitable accommodation elsewhere for other people to move into. HMO accomodation is high sought after precisely because lots of people need it due to their financial circumstances. There are two ways of getting around that that I can see: (1) provide lots of subsidised (ie low cost) non-HMO accommodation for people who currently share flats due to financial circumstances; or (2) distribute HMO accommodation more evenly (and any necessary facilities/services in line with that, such as public transport). I don’t think HMO quotas are the most effective and constructive ways of addressing the problem, because of the other reasons I’ve discussed.
• “Student heavy” areas are usually going to be areas that have the right kinds of flats for student needs — flats with a largish number of bedrooms, nearby shops and public transport, etc. There is a reason these areas are popular with students. Other areas might be less suitable for students — they might not have nearby shops, public transport, easily cyclable routes, or they might have other associated problems. HMO quotas doesn’t take this issue into account. That said, the same facilities would benefit other demographic groups (eg, elderly people, poor people, etc). Similar to the above point though, I think there are more effective ways of addressing this issues — namely providing suitable accommodation at low cost elsewhere.

Anyway, I am prepared to be convinced about HMO quotas, but I think basically I’m anti (although with reservations). For more information, you can check out the Right to Rent campaign, where you can sign a petition in opposition to HMO quotas. –IP

Congested and confuzzled

I’m bored. I’m fed up of being ill. It’s been two months now, of post-virus exhaustion and aches, and more recently a sinus issue that caused some unpleasant dizziness. I’ve not done significant academic work for two months.

I’ve always been happiest when I’m productive or active. At the moment, I’m neither productive nor active. I always feel short of a nap, spaced out, forgetful, achey.

I am deeply uncertain and frustrated about my academic options. I have exams this spring, but having missed the better part of a term’s worth of work, and with no sign of getting better yet, it’s not clear that I’ll be caught up in time for my exams in the spring. I can sit some exams in August instead of in spring, but that completely buggers up my summer in a number of ways:

I was planning to work on my article for publication in the early part of the summer, then visit family for a bit, then come back to work on my dissertation and possibly further research (if I get a small research grant), and work a proper paying job until the start of the next academic year. With exams in the summer, the possibility of further research goes out the window due to time constraints; and due to practical considerations, the proper paying job may go out the window or be limited too (I do special needs care work. It’s a highly demanding and tiring job and there is no way I can study and work at the same time. Plus, it’s difficult to get time off, and I don’t get paid for hours I don’t work). I may or may not get to do as much work on my disseration as I would like.

So…I can apply for a hardship fund to help cover the unforseen cost of sitting exams when I would have otherwise been working.

Someone suggested that I consider switching to part-time study given that health issues have impacted my coursework every year that I have been at university. But that opens up a financial minefield — part-time students are not entitled to a council tax exemption, and are only entitled to less than one sixth of the loan that full-time students can receive. So I’d have to navigate a benefits system that assumes (contrary to all sense) that people are either capable of working full time, or incapable of working at all, and I have to “exhaust all other possible source of income” — apparently, you are expected to take out loans, use all overdraft, and max out all credit cards before you get financial support — a policy that is morally repulsive as well as fundamentally stupid. It stops looking like a great option, eh?

Anyway, I’m not sure that part time study is actually what I need. I’m actually reasonably good at managing my chronic health problems — the arthritis and migraines. What messes up my academic work and planning is actually short-term illness that exacerbates my existing medical conditions. I’m reasonably good at looking after myself — I follow medical advice, I eat reasonably well, I rest as much as I can, I do all the sensible stuff. My immune system is still pretty rubbish, though.

I wish there was someone who knew what this was like, and could talk me through my academic and medical options in that light. My GP focuses on short-term medical issues, for the most part. She’s good at her job, but I do have to insist about monitoring for inflammation indicators and other long-term care issues, and she’s not an academic or an academic advisor. My academic advisor and lecturers are good at their jobs, but to my knowledge they don’t have experience of long-term health problems. I’ve had useful advice in the past about pain management and pacing and longer-term management of my health from physiotherapists. But I rather wish there was an academic I could sit down with and chat to about this stuff, and how it impacts my studies, and what I can do about it from the academia side of things.

And all this is throwing up a lot of questions for me, about my ability to continue in postgrad studies or full-time work.

–IP

Want my kiss!

I’ve had glandular fever.  That’s mononucleosis, for you transatlantic kids.   And I didn’t even kiss anyone!  Waaaaaaaah!  Sob!  Not.  Fair.  Well, I kissed the Existentialist, but he didn’t have glandular fever.  Although he may well have it now, by reason of having kissed me back.  It seems the incubation period prior to symptoms for this deeply annoying virus is 4-6 weeks.   So profuse apologies to any of you out there whom I have not kissed but nevertheless shared the love with, so to speak.

Anyway, I’m shattered.  I mean, I’m used to being tired, but I’m not used to having used up my daily spoon budget by 11 am and needing to go back to bed before I can face, you know, doing anything.

Anyway, my old flat is cleaned, my new kitchen cupboard is stocked, my bills are paid, and all I have to do now is…write a mega Haskell program in two days, catch up on 3 weeks’ worth of reading, and plough through the preparation for my dissertation.  Easy peasy lemon squeezey.

I think I’m going to go inject some caffeine, and in the meantime, you should read Sarah’s excellent post on education, qualifications, and snobbery.

–IP

Free rice!

Well this is nifty:

An internet word game has generated enough rice to feed 50,000 people for one day, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has said.

Here’s how it works. When you play the FreeRice game, each correct answer, results in the donation of 10 rice grains by the UN to people living in poverty. From the FreeRice FAQs:

Who pays for the donated rice?
The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice.
If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?
FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 10 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.
Who distributes the donated rice?
The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger.

Neat. So head on over and play.