Change In The Housıng Of Unıversıty Students Durıng The Covıd-19 Perıod - The Case Of Uşak Cıty

Abstract

The aim of this research is to determine the change in the housing of university students during the Covid-19 period, in the process of being sent to their hometowns and returning to the city of their university after three semesters, specific to the city of Uşak. The study was carried out with the qualitative research method in terms of the period in the city before the pandemic, the period spent in the country, and the period of returning to the city. Semi-structured interview form was used in data collection, content analysis was used in the analysis. It was detected that during the period when they were sent to their hometowns, the students kept their residences in the city for 6-7 months, and they continued to pay the rent with a discount in this process. When they returned to the city after three semesters there were changes determined in the housing characteristics, usage conditions, rental prices, housing conditions and preferences of university students in the city of Uşak due to the effect of the pandemic. Housing rents have doubled compared to before the pandemic. While students find it difficult to find housing in the market, both in terms of price and quantity; In the face of increasing rental prices, it has exhibited the behavior of reducing the rental cost by decreasing the quality of the housing or increasing the number of housemates. Students with sufficient financial means preferred to go home alone or with less friends in the face of the pandemic. The predominant feature of the period was the lack of the right to choose a house, which arose due to the occupancy of the house, which was found with the concern of being exposed. All the variables obtained are planning parameters should be considered in the face of possible situations for the relationship between the epidemic and the student housing market. In the literature, it is seen that the studies that focus on the university students-housing relationship with the focus of the pandemic generally focus on foreign students, and they deal with issues such as rent change, preference satisfaction of marketing strategies. The way and method of handling the subject of this research is spesific and  presented as a new and different perspective.