Why student housing is in a crisis — and how to fix it

Rents for student housing in Canada are skyrocketing amid calls for schools and governments to fix it. The federal government is considering a cap on the number of international students to ease the pressure on the housing market. But immigration and housing experts say more needs to be done to support students.

Producer/host: Avneet Dhillon
Production editor: Charles Fogel
Senior producer: Amara McLaughlin

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[gingja]

Even just regular housing is busted. In Newfoundland it's extremely expensive and a lot of people are looking at homelessness

[Manteuffel]

At this point, if its unaffordable, it's unaffordable.
Maybe fewer graduates will make a degree or two mean something again.
As for INTL students- why is the Govt not screening students to see if they can truly afford studying abroad?

[StarHarvestOfficial]

"we're aware of the issue".. i should fking hope so, since you're CAUSING it.

[bladesausteel]

It isn't just student housing that's in deep trouble. Housing for working folks is becoming a struggle. Greed, lack of a working wage, low minimum wage, COL are all to blame.

[haxy]

It's surprising that we have so many online colleges here and none of these 'international' students seem to attend them from their home country, seems like the only reason they are here is to get PR.

[truth]

I remember there were similar discussions in the mid 80's regarding lack of housing for Post Secondary students. Clearly nothing much has changed. So where is the accountability for these Colleges and Universities?

[susanb]

There is only housing for first year students at guelph which blows my mind
My daughter is living in atrocious conditions for the third year now
Shameful

[littlelittle]

CBC keeps postings things like this and at the same time support Trudeau.

[pavamchathunni]

99% of these students are not going back to their home country. Hold these universities and diploma-mills accountable.

[patrickpascal]

So what I got from this was transit to school if you can’t afford rent near universities where demand is high. Also if you are planning to be an international student, plan for your expenses, and if you can’t you probably shouldn’t be an international student coming to Canada.

[RyanJamesOfficial]

Housing is in crisis period. I'm a real estate agent and I'm disgusted by the rising prices for properties, rentals, and the increased interest rates. I understand the increased interest rate is meant to slow down inflation and balance supply/demand... but the current generation is caught in the crossfire.

[wesleyewert]

my university is fine for housing space as far as I know, I don't want to go through them though because they force you into meal plans that only work with their overpriced, low-quality restaurants. it was awful to try to find somewhere to rent but it's far superior to paying thousands on bad food.

[johncocktoassen]

Student housing should be the universities problem. They charge enough, build some housing.

That is a reflection of what is actually happening in the real estate situation.

[Praisethesunson]

The corporate conglomerates that run Canada could easily house all you maple drinkers. But artificially restricting access to basics like housing is just too profitable.

[martymcfly]

I hope nobody is thinking that university tuition pays for residence. It doesn't. When I went to university, university housing was a huge ripoff. They would have five people staying in a three bedroom unit, and they would charge each of them $1000/month. This was 40 years ago when you could get a decent one-bedroom apartment for $400/month. Clearly the only students that stayed in residence were those where the value for dollar proposition wasn't an issue.  That usually indicates a reliance on wealthy - or court ordered - parents.

The runaway inflation in real estate is a very serious issue, and is having massive repercussions. The UN considers affordable housing to be a basic human right. Whatever you think of that, students who can't afford housing to attend university is one of the less serious consequences when ordinary people can't afford housing for themselves and their families.  

How about it Poilievre? Are you truly opposed to government propping up the real estate prices? Would you be prepared to pull the plug on the CMHC, and allow a long overdue correction in the housing market? Are do you think that subsidizing building contractors with government money is the way to fix the problem - it isn't and it never has been. All you get from subsidizing building contractors is that building contractors get rich building expensive real estate with taxpayer's money, and subsidizing industry is not consistent with the free market principles you espouse.

[sabine]

Educational institutions need to be responsible for adequate student housing, especially in Canada, where education is a business.

[thevoyageur]

Has anyone thought about putting a freeze on new international students until housing is fixed?

[antonnnn]

One can easily get 2BD apartment for under 1000$ in Montreal within 30-40 min by public transport from any university in Montreal and share it with a peer student. Students should think twice where to study.

[tommywong]

Is it possible to turn some of the public parks into permenant tents shelter and RV parks or turn someof the empty comercial buildings into temporary shelters???