When Thaio Tomazetti arrived in Australia from Brazil in 2006, he didn’t speak a word of English, so finding somewhere to stay was a huge challenge. He couldn’t phone real estate agents to ask if they had rooms, nor could he decipher rental contracts or utility agreements.

The recent marketing graduate soon found employment as a cleaner and ended up juggling three jobs to support himself while studying English. In his spare time, he worked on a business idea to provide student accommodation.

It was a tough introduction to life in Australia, but it only strengthened his resolve.

“I’d seen firsthand how stressful it was for young people coming to Australia to study,” he recalls. “Finding somewhere safe to live in a new country is never easy, especially if you don’t understand the language.”

Tomazetti’s struggles led to the creation of 2Stay Accommodation Group, which is today one of Australia’s most respected companies for international students seeking affordable rooms, homestays or studio apartments.

Over nearly two decades, it has found residences for 50,000 students from multiple countries in 4,000 beds across four Australian states, winning some major industry awards in the process. He was also a finalist for CEO of the Year Consumer & Lifestyle at The CEO Magazine’s 2024 Executive of the Year Awards.

“What I love the most is seeing how we’ve changed so many lives,” he says. “Around 80 percent of our students are just like I was and speak no English. They’ve left home and family for the first time and are gradually gaining confidence in managing daily responsibilities independently, as well as in learning how to live with others, particularly those from different cultural backgrounds.

“So we’re hosting them and helping them adjust to a new life. And I’ve seen so many of them get together and also become Australian citizens, which is wonderful.”

Rising numbers

Despite 2Stay Accommodation Group’s remarkable success, student accommodation is still in a state of crisis, with the chronic shortage of beds getting progressively more acute, even as the government races to green-light more developments in a sector worth US$11.4 billion.

According to the federal Department of Education, in 2024 there are set to be nearly a million international student enrollments, a 17 percent increase from pre-pandemic numbers.

However, CBRE’s ‘Accommodating the Growth in New Students’ report states that over the next three years, only 8,000 purpose-built student rooms will be built nationally, meaning the sky-high rents in cities like Sydney and Melbourne aren’t likely to subside anytime soon.

“Many students can’t afford their current living arrangements, forcing them to live in poor conditions and putting their welfare at risk. Not to mention, they are forced to work harder than they ideally should, leaving less time to focus on their studies,” Tomazetti says.

“2Stay offers well-priced accommodation, giving students peace of mind with a comfortable and secure place to live, allowing them to focus fully on their studies.”

A survey of 7,000 international students renting in Sydney and Melbourne by the Australian Research Council revealed that three percent were forced to ‘hot bed’, meaning they were sharing their beds in shifts. That equates to nearly 23,000 nationally.

“More than half of those in the study who were hot bedding said they were worried they couldn’t afford to pay rent. Some were even going hungry when they had bills to pay,” he reveals. “When you are in such a dire situation, your studies are bound to suffer along with your mental health.”

Stigmatizing students

The situation isn’t helped by media outlets blaming the influx of overseas students for worsening Australia’s already severe housing crisis. In 2023, the Institute of Public Affairs reported that the cohort would swallow up 79 percent of Sydney’s new housing supply.

“Sydneysiders already face rising rents, more costly mortgages and ever-deteriorating services and infrastructure that will only be made worse by the announced unplanned jump in its international student intake,” it declared.

But such fears are groundless according to a 2024 report by the Student Accommodation Council, which pointed out that rents had started soaring when student numbers were falling and that a range of other factors were to blame.

Research undertaken earlier this year by eight of Australia’s leading universities came to the same conclusion and called for more high-quality overseas students to boost the talent pool of engineers, cybersecurity experts and defense personnel.

Emergency response

Perhaps the toughest period for international students in Australia was during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Tomazetti and his team worked tirelessly to help students stranded in the country with nowhere to stay.

“It was the hardest time I’ve ever known,” he says. “I’m very proud of how 2Stay immediately reacted to assist so many students who were experiencing financial hardship, far from their loved ones, unable to leave the country or afford to do so, and consequently facing high levels of mental distress.

“We had thousands of empty beds and thousands of people left homeless so we just started offering accommodation for A$50 [US$33] a week. People were speculating about how much profit we were not making and how much money we could have made instead. However, for me, in that circumstance, it was just a matter of doing the right thing and helping as much as I could.”

2Stay Accommodation Group collaborated with the New South Wales government to provide 1,000 students with fully funded accommodation, for which it was recognized at the NSW Business Awards.

Even before the pandemic, Tomazetti had an unofficial policy that he’d agreed with a number of his key supply partners to come to the aid of students who were struggling financially by finding them temporary digs to get them back on their feet.

It was a scheme witnessed firsthand by Simon Costain, General Manager of International Business Development at tertiary education provider NextEd Group.

“I saw his generosity and commitment to supporting at-risk students when one of our students experienced serious mental and financial health issues,” Costain says.

“He was homeless living under a railway bridge in Sydney’s CBD, but with only one phone call to Thaio, he was found free accommodation for four weeks to give him a safe space to regain his life and independence so he was able to tackle the challenges of living abroad.”

Memorable day

As 2Stay Accommodation Group prepares to enter its third decade, Tomazetti looks back on just how far he has come in a relatively short time.

“I remember those days when I was a cleaner with three jobs and working so hard to achieve my dreams,” he reflects. “I thought about that time in my life on the day I went into a showroom and bought a Ferrari. It made me very emotional and I started crying.

“The owner of the dealership knew my story, how far I’d come and he became emotional too! When I got home, I looked in the mirror and said to myself, ‘I can’t believe you bought a Ferrari!’ and I’ll never forget how it felt.”

Nor will the thousands of students 2Stay Accommodation Group continues to help forget how it felt to find clean, safe and affordable accommodation in a foreign country, where it’s all too easy to be exploited.

“I was on a plane with my wife recently and one of the cabin crew stared at me and said, ‘Oh my God, are you Thaio? You changed my life! I met you when you started your company and you found me a room. I met my wife there and now we’re both doing what we love.’

“I hear those sorts of stories all the time. It reminds me that we don’t just provide accommodation, we make lives better.”