![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/durham-university-students-queue-overnight-to-secure-accommodation/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/127387204_mediaitem127387203.jpg&description=Image source, PALTVImage caption, Students have queued outside estate agents in a bid to find a home for 2023/24Durham University students have had to queue on the street overnight to secure a home for next year, amid claims of a lack of accommodation and rising rents.Hundreds lined up outside estate agents in the city after lists were released.One student said some showed up at his house for a viewing, having already signed-up for it "in a panic".The university said it had "anticipated pressure" on the private rental market and increases in rent, and the issue was receiving its "urgent attention".Durham Students' Union described the housing market in the city as "broken" and claimed increasing student numbers were "putting students' welfare, and education, at risk". First year undergraduates in the city have guaranteed university-managed accommodation but have to find their own housing after that. Lettings agents in the city release available properties for the next academic year in a process known as "the drop".Image caption, Engineering students Tom Richardson and Peter Thorne queued for six hoursThird year engineering students Tom Richardson and Peter Thorne told BBC Look North they had queued for six hours for a house and still do not have a room confirmed."I think it's quite simply there's too many students and not enough houses," Mr Richardson said.He said he was alerted to queues forming outside one estate agent at 19:30 BST the previous night."We decided to get up at about half three, get there for four and then queue straight the way through," he added."It was absolutely manic - people had camping chairs, tables set out, loads of blankets - by the end, when people started moving it looked like a dump site."He said people had got "more and more desperate" when new lists were released on different days.Mr Thorne added there were stories of freshers falling out with each other in the queue."We had people last week coming to our house saying, 'We have already){kind=link}
Durham University students have had to queue on the street overnight to secure a home for next year, amid claims of a lack of accommodation and rising rents.
Hundreds lined up outside estate agents in the city after lists were released.
One student said some showed up at his house for a viewing, having already signed-up for it “in a panic”.
The university said it had “anticipated pressure” on the private rental market and increases in rent, and the issue was receiving its “urgent attention”.
Durham Students’ Union described the housing market in the city as “broken” and claimed increasing student numbers were “putting students’ welfare, and education, at risk”.