One of the biggest hurdles some post-secondary students face is moving out from their parents’ house and finding a new home.
According to the Rental Market Trends chart by Zumper, rent prices have finally eased from the astronomical levels they reached in the years during and after COVID-19.
The median rent for all bedroom types in Toronto has gone down from $3,000 last year to $2,500 this year, the chart showed.
However, according to a chart by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the rental price for a one-bedroom apartment continues to increase by $50 to $100 each year.
In addition, units with multiple bedrooms continue to cost around $60 to $150 more annually.
These price increases are making life harder for students, who are already dealing with the heavy cost of tuition fees, school supplies and food, to focus on their studies.
In fact, 7.7 per cent of food bank users are post-secondary students, according to the Hunger Count 2024 report by Food Banks Canada.
Schools should be held more accountable for ensuring students find an affordable and livable place when entering post-secondary school.
Ideally, these housing options are also near or around students’ campuses so they can save money and time getting to their classes.
The rental listing service website Apartments.com, shows housing near Humber Polytechnic’s North campus goes for around $2,400 per month.
The school also recommends external listing services, such as Places4Students. Yet, most offers for a small bedroom cost $900 per month, which can still be significant for students who can only afford part-time, minimum wage jobs on top of school.
In a statement released on National Housing Day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Canada’s housing market just hasn’t been working. Ask anyone you know, and they’ll say it hasn’t worked for decades.”
“Put simply, the cost to build homes is too high, and the time it takes to finish projects is too long,” Trudeau said.
The prime minister also said he plans to use programs like the Housing Accelerator Fund and Affordable Housing Fund to help solve the housing crisis.
While nearly all campuses in Ontario offer on-campus residence to students, the chances of getting housing depend on the available units.
It is not uncommon to get behind a long waiting list, too, forcing others to look for off-campus options, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation, from scams and unfair rent prices to mismanagement by landlords.
A more helpful initiative colleges should adopt with urgency is building more affordable student accommodation on vacant plots of land within campus grounds.
For example, the University of Guelph plans to transform an empty lot at the intersection of College Avenue West and McGilvray Street into a first-year student residences, housing 1,500 new students by 2030.
Schools, however, should guarantee these options are also affordable for students already paying exorbitant fees.
At Humber Polytechnic North’s Residence, students are expected to pay at least $6,889 and up to $10,250 per semester. They are also required to purchase dining plans that limit their food options, which aren’t always great in quality or quantity.
Safe and secure housing is an important part of a healthy and successful post-secondary life.
Students excited for this new chapter of their lives may be unaware of these challenges. They’ll be in for a big shock unless schools do their job of letting students focus on being students.
