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Investigation
This student is sharing a bed with a stranger because she can't afford the rent
An international student in Melbourne has told SBS News she’s 'hot-bedding' with another sharehouse tenant to make ends meet. Things are about to get worse for international students when working caps are reinstated on 1 July.
Published 30 June 2023 6:13am
By Sandra Fulloon
Source: SBS News
Image: Priyanka and the bed she shares in Melbourne. (SBS News)
Priyanka (not her real name) is a 19-year-old international student who, at night, sleeps in a bed in a sharehouse on the outskirts of Melbourne.
But during the daytime, the bed has a different occupant; a man who works night shifts as a truck driver.
The practice is known as 'hot-bedding'.
Between them, the two strangers, who are both from India, split the $550 per month rent for one room. The other male tenants in the house are also truck drivers and from India.
“It is definitely not what I expected when I first arrived in Australia,” Priyanka says.
“Living costs here are a terrible shock and were never mentioned by the [migration] agent in India.”
The bed Priyanka shares. Source: Supplied / 'Priyanka'
Rents have risen by 6.3 per cent nationally over the past year. In Melbourne, the average weekly rent for a two-bedroom, 85-square-metre apartment in an average area costs $425. Sydney residents can expect to pay 36 per cent more at $578.
It is definitely not what I expected when I first arrived in Australia.Priyanka, international student
Priyanka says as well as rent, she struggles to afford food and transport costs. Plus some weekends, the bed she shares with the other tenant is unavailable.
“When he is not driving, because it's an all-boys house, I go into the storeroom. There is a small space for a mattress and I sleep in there.”
Initially, Priyanka was enrolled in a full-time nursing degree at a Melbourne university and worked casual shifts in a warehouse. But, she says, she was stood down from the warehouse in March after caps on international student work hours were announced.
She quit her studies partly due to housing stress.
Priyanka says she struggles to pay rent. Source: SBS News / Scott Cardwell
Under the previous government, international students were restricted to 40 hours per fortnight while studying but the caps were temporarily removed during the COVID-19 pandemic to address workforce shortages.
The Labor government will reinstate the restrictions at a higher rate of 48 hours per fortnight. There are no caps on domestic students.
Announcing the decision earlier this year, Australia's Home Affairs and Education Ministers said the caps balance students’ need to work and study.
“International students come to Australia to study," Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O'Neil, has previously said.
"They have come here on a student visa and they are meant to be getting a good quality education in our country, and they are not going to be able to do that if they are working full time.
"That is why the rule has existed before."
Of the 600,000 international students enrolled this year, almost 90,000 are from India, a 27 per cent rise from the previous year. Thousands more are expected to arrive in July for the start of a new university semester.
Priyanka has been hot-bedding for several months and says it's impacting her mental health.
“I am so stressed all the time, and very anxious. To not have even a peaceful place to lay my head and relax while I study feels terrible.”
She hasn’t told her family back in India about how much she is struggling because of the sacrifices they made to get her an education in Australia.
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“My parents mortgaged their house and took out a massive loan and cut back on basic living costs to afford to send me here,” she says.
Over the past year, rising living costs have surpassed the funds her family budgeted to cover her expenses.
“If I tell my mother how hard it is she starts crying for many days. I have not even told her I am [hot-bedding] because she is not strong enough to hold such pain.”
VicWise founder Manorani Guy in Melbourne. Source: SBS News / Scott Cardwell
She says Priyanka isn't alone.
“Many new arrivals are shocked by the cost of living in Australia,” she says.
“We promise these students the world to get them here, but no one talks about the barriers: high rents, soaring living costs and now work restrictions.”
A 2021 of 7,000 international students in Sydney and Melbourne found more than 3 per cent were hot-bedding and 40 per cent were going without meals. The survey was conducted before nearly two-thirds of international students in Australia lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many new arrivals are shocked by the cost of living in Australia- Manorani Guy, student advocate
Ms Guy predicts the reintroduction of work caps will worsen housing stress for many international students.
“Conditions for international students are already brutal and will get more brutal. Those who are not resilient will suffer,” she says.
“It is impossible to survive on three shifts per week, and that means overcrowding of share houses and a rise in mental health issues.”
CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, Phil Honeywood, supports the reintroduction of work caps but says more affordable student housing is needed.
"We are working through a number of policy forums to convert some office buildings and motels into student apartments, as well as getting some shovel-ready projects on campus or close to campus as soon as possible."
He also has this reminder for families of students hoping to study here: "Before you can get a student visa to come to Australia or any other country that we compete against, you have to prove that you've got in your bank sufficient funds for rent, food and other living costs."
One of the industries set to be hit hardest by the working caps is the hospitality sector, which employs thousands of students.
CEO of the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association of Australia, Suresh Manickam, says the sector is already struggling to cope with rising costs for power, produce and rent.
“The 1st of July is far too soon to bring in these work caps,” he says. "And the main reason is that we still have a national skills shortage.
“The inflow of students that are coming to Australia will not be able to fill this shortage, because of the cap on the number of hours that students will be able to work.
“And we are very concerned that this will drive an underground economy in terms of work hours.”
We are very concerned that this will drive an underground economy.- Suresh Manickam, Restaurant and Catering Industry Association
To ease pressure on restaurant owners, Mr Manickam is calling on the government to align hospitality worker hours with aged care staff, who can work unlimited hours until 31 December this year.
“We are also asking the federal government for a review of the hospitality work caps in six months’ time,” he says.
The Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Education did not provide a comment to SBS News.
In a statement to last month, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said the government recognised the important contribution that international students made to Australian society.
The spokesperson echoed Ms O'Neil's comments, saying: “The government considers 48 hours a fortnight as an appropriate balance between work and study”.
As “part of the requirements for a student visa, students must declare that they have enough money to support their stay in Australia, including the cost of living, the course and travel expenses.”
“This modest increase will help students to gain valuable work experience and contribute to Australia’s workforce needs while they study.”
Manorani Guy with Priyanka in Melbourne. Source: SBS News / Scott Cardwell
“It feels terrible that I have come to such a point in life, that I am in a situation like this.
"I would not want anyone else to suffer as I have. So, I won't suggest to anyone else to come to Australia, unless they have some strong backbone."
“People are ready to jump on the opportunity to exploit international students, especially when they're unaware of local laws and regulations.
“Sometimes I do feel like, what am I doing, actually? Is that how we are supposed to live?”
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