Özet:

Due to the Turkey’s growth-induced higher education policy in the last two decades, the number of universities and college students have increased dramatically. Despite the tremendous increase in the number of students, the central government have not yet provided sufficient capacities of dormitories and other accommodation facilities. Over time, huge number of students are facing the challenging accommodation problem and seeking to cope with this problem by trying to find a decent place to live in the fierce housing market where prices skyrocketed. As the other side of the problem, the hyper-commodification of housing and the soaring costs in construction sector have all exacerbated accommodation needs of college students and turn this problem into a deepening crisis of everyday life in the city. The main aim of the article is to investigate how college students "cope with” the challenging and multifaceted accommodation/housing problems. "Adequate Housing" as a central conceptual framework significantly defined in international human rights documents and Michel De Certeau's conception of “strategy-tactic” dialectic have co-formulated the theoretical perspective in the article. Moreover, the article exhibits the related findings of a comprehensive literature review on the housing problems faced by the college students. The critical findings compare the interrelation between the main issues of the housing problems and the principles of adequate housing. According to De Certeau, everyday life consists of constantly reproduced dominant strategies (by the government or market) and the survival tactics (by the poor, excluded or vulnerable groups). De Certau’s conceptual framework of the “tactics" provide an alternative analytical approach at this point by shedding light on the survival practices of the powerless/vulnerable groups in the city. The survival tactics adopted by the students have an urban character and they continuously evolve by the time in confrontation with the dominant strategies of the government. Thus, there is a gap between the already existing services/accommodation facilities in the soaring housing market (based on the government policies) and the unmet needs of students (a decent place to live in the city). This dramatic gap is filled by the college students’ tactics and by the way of these survival tactics students always struggle to sustain their life in the cities where the dormitory facilities are inadequate, and the housing rental prices skyrocketed. The research draws on a mixed methodology combining literature review, various statistical data, and interview findings with a complementary manner. Interviews with 80 students reached through the snowball method, basically indicates the challenging situations under the conditions of inadequate housing and the fierce housing market. The quantitative findings from the questionnaire were supplemented by the qualitative insights gathered from students and explicated their tactics in their everyday life on how to cope with the housing problem. The interpretation of the quantitative and qualitative findings provides a critical spotlight on housing affordability, security of tenure, the role of location and accessibility and habitability as the driving forces that have shaped students’ tactics under the conditions of soaring housing market.

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