Post-secondary institutions prep for housing crunch

Finding a place to live can often be a stress for university and college students, but this fall could be even worse.

With a very low vacancy rate, students are being urged to look for housing as soon as possible for the upcoming year.

Schools like the University of Calgary and SAIT are pushing programs such as sharing a home with a senior and utilizing off-campus websites with landlords, but admit they won’t know the full extent of the problem until students return.

U of C’s VP-External Conner Brown said the flooding has also had an impact.

“Obviously it’s added extra strain on the housing market and I’m sure we’ll see that nearing September as our students do start coming back to school,” he said.

But SAIT’s Student Association’s VP-External Kenneth Taylor said the larger issue is an expansion of the secondary suites program, which has been sidetracked.

“We’re really hoping that we can get some traction on easing the zoning bylaws to create more secretary suites, not only to create more accommodations but to allow students to find safer accommodations closer to where they study,” Taylor said. “So it’s extremely frustrating and it’s something that students have been talking about for quite some time that has not been acted upon and now we could be approaching a crisis.”

Taylor notes a major student area is Kensington which has been pounded by the flood, where suites can’t be rebuilt because of renovations.

Both Taylor and Brown also say safety could be compromised because students may be forced to live in unsafe living conditions and take jobs to pay for rent, which could affect school work.

For its part, SAIT has about 10,000 students, with only 1,200 on-campus and 30 per cent of students are from outside Calgary.

Brown said about 30 per cent of students live outside the home and rent nearby, but it’s not clear what percentage of students are still looking for a place,

Brown adds his union is hoping to start a campaign, pushing homeowners living near the university who wouldn’t usually rent out to students to change their mind.