‘Hot Bedding’: Students in Australia Share Beds With Strangers as Cost of Living Crisis Spirals

In response to astronomically high living costs, some foreign students and workers living in Australia have started "hot bedding," a cost-cutting practice that entails sleeping in shifts with a stranger.

SBS News first reported on the phenomenon, speaking to officials who say "hot bedding" is becoming more and more commonplace — especially in light of the restrictions placed on international students who want to work.

Students from abroad are restricted to 24 hours of work a week, with officials noting they're in Australia to receive an education — not a job.

SBS spoke to "Priyanka," an Indian student who shares her bed with a stranger for $550 a month. 

"It is definitely not what I expected when I first arrived in Australia," Priyanka explained, adding rents are beyond what she ever could have imagined. "Living costs here are a terrible shock and were never mentioned by the [migration] agent in India.” 

The student said she uses the bed at night when the man she shares it with is working as a truck driver. He sleeps in the bed during the day when Priyanka is working or studying.

Not only is her rent expensive, Priyanka also struggles to afford food and transportation.

On 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," she said. "There is a small space for a mattress and I sleep in there. 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."

Student advocate Manorani Guy told SBS News Priyanka's story is not unique.

"Many new arrivals are shocked by the cost of living in Australia," said Guy, the founder and president of the Victorian Working Group for International Student Employability. "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."