When the price of housing harms your studies

Finding affordable housing is increasingly difficult for millions of Canadians, including many students who, forced to relocate, struggle to find housing to begin their post-secondary studies.

By 2028, the federal government has planned to spend more than $82 billion, among other things, for the construction of 160,000 units, but the current supply is not enough to meet the growing demand.

Last year, Jérémy Mignot, originally from Upton, in Montérégie, was unable to find accommodation in time for his return to the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR).minutes from university, I couldn’t stay there on the weekend”,”text”:”I was driving from a friend’s house, he lived about 45 minutes from university, I couldn’t stay there the weekend”}}”>I was driving from a friend’s house, he lived about 45 minutes from the university, I couldn’t stay there on the weekendhe says.

When he finally found an apartment, two months after school started, he jumped at the first opportunity, even though it didn’t meet his criteria and was costing him $150 a month more than his budget. foreseen.

A growing shortage

Before the pandemic, finding affordable housing in Trois-Rivières was a formality for university students. But since 2019, the vacancy rate for rental apartments has plummeted. It has been at 0.9% since last fall.

month or 8months we tell him: “Find yourself an apartment!””,”text”:”A student arrives this year in August, they have already been told for 10 or 8 months: “Find yourself an apartment! “””>A student arrives this year in August, it’s already been 10 or 8 months that we tell him: “Find yourself an apartment!” explains the rector of theUQTR, Christian Blanchette. The approximately 1,000 student residences on campus are not enough to meet demand.

This shortage is causing a lot of headaches for the university establishment, where only 36% of students have a permanent address within one hour of campus. Not to mention that the proportion of international students is growing: from 11% last year, it has risen to 14% this year. It puts pressureexplains the rector.

Mr. Blanchette has a fear: having to dissuade admitted students from attending his university, for lack of available accommodation, as is the case of the University of Quebec at Rimouski.

An NPO that prioritizes students

The Work Unit for the establishment of student housing (UTILE) could save him from this disaster scenario.

With an initial loan of $650,000 from the General Association of Students ofUQTRthe non-profit organization will deliver 180 affordable housing units in Trois-Rivières.

The project, with a budget of $29.3 million, will welcome more than 200 students at the start of the 2024 academic year.

Our goal is to build as many non-profit student accommodation as quickly as possible, to accelerate a way out of the crisis.explains Laurent Levesque, co-founder and general manager of theUSEFUL.

Sarah Leroux occupies one of the 418 units that theUSEFUL has delivered since 2020 in Montreal and in Quebec.

The cost of a semi-furnished two-bedroom apartment is $1275, including utilities. The music student shares the rent with a roommate.

Without this affordability, her loans and grants would not cover her expenses. job and I would have tried to get one as soon as possible too.”,”text”:”I would have started looking for a job and I would have tried to get one as soon as possible too.”} }”>I would have started looking for a job and I would have tried to get one as soon as possible too.

She finds that living in an affordable, quality apartment is positive for her mental health and for her studies. nonetheless, this privilege is not given to all students.

I talk to friends, then horror stories I’ve heard. I have friends who are struggling to pay their rent. It becomes difficult and they are stressed.

According to a study by theUSEFULthere are 1.5 million students living in apartments in Canada, 64% of whom spend more than 30% of their annual income on paying their rent.

Federal government financial support

In total, the four projects of theUSEFUL received more than $55 million from the federal government through the National Housing Strategy.

This strategy, announced in 2017 by Justin Trudeau’s government and enhanced in 2023, aims to build up to 160,000 homes by 2028. To date, 106,501 homes have been built.

Laurent Levesque considers that the qualification rules for financing are laborious.

The big challenge afterwards is to get our projects into the boxes, into the parameters; none of the existing programs, from any level of government at this time, have been designed for student housinghe laments.

L’USEFUL intends to keep going, despite the pitfalls. The organization has a dozen projects in development in Quebec, including in Sherbrooke. Their goal: to house nearly 3,000 students by 2027.

The university is a social lift, it is a means of combating social inequalities, so in order to do so, there must be adequate housing.

Without affordable housing, accessibility to studies could be compromised.

More housing… or fewer students?

Federal Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Sean Fraser says he is working on solutions.

By working with partners to abolish problematic rules, new housing can be createdhe said.

On the sidelines of Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet meeting in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Minister Fraser also did not rule out the possibility of capping the number of international students to ease pressure on the housing market.

According to government data, Canada welcomed more than 800,000 foreign students last year.

I believe we need to have some serious thoughtdeclared Mr. Fraser, specifying that it was a question of one of the options to consider.

And [les institutions d’enseignement postsecondaire] continue to bring in students in record numbers, they should be part of the solution by making sure they have a place to stay, he added. When we see that some of these institutions welcome five to six times more students than the capacity of the building… we must begin to ask ourselves serious questions.

Minister Fraser, nonetheless, cautioned that immigrants should not be blamed for the lack of affordable housing. Let us address the real cause of the challenges we face and recognize that immigration can be a tool to attract the workers we need to build more homeshe said.

With the collaboration of Marie Chabot-Johnson and information from CBC