Halifax housing crisis: The struggle of post-secondary students as back-to-school looms | 24CA News
Halifax’s housing disaster and the rising value of residing is inflicting pressure amongst post-secondary college students returning to campus subsequent month.
Terra Carter, exterior vice-president of the King’s Student Union on the University of King’s College, mentioned they’re listening to “extreme” considerations from college students in regards to the state of Halifax’s rental market.
“I myself was actually homeless for a month back in April, which was really difficult because I was trying to finish my exams and tests,” Carter mentioned.
“I ended up not finishing three of my four courses. I’ve been working on them over the summer.”
Carter mentioned the state of affairs arose after they, a former residence don, took on the union place and was unable to proceed working as a don.
They got the choice to remain on-campus, however that may have value an additional $5,000 — “$5,000 that I didn’t have” — they usually have been unable to search out any leases till May.
“That shift in my ability to be housed decimated my academic semester,” Carter mentioned, noting that they weren’t the one one with challenges find housing.
A one-per-cent emptiness fee and excessive rents have added monetary stress to college students, who’re already paying exorbitant charges for tuition, they mentioned. Carter mentioned minimal wage and bursaries don’t lower it anymore to ease the pressure.
“The Nova Scotia Student Bursary that all Nova Scotia residents get hasn’t been increased since, I think, 2008,” they famous. “It once covered a fifth of tuition and now it barely covers a tenth.”
Some college students are additionally dropping programs and taking up a number of jobs so that they have sufficient time to work to afford hire, Carter mentioned. They mentioned there’s presently a brief waitlist to dwell in residence at King’s, although not as excessive as in 2022.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that King’s residence is rather expensive, and difficult for folks of lower or middle income to be able to afford,” mentioned Carter.
In a press release, King’s dean of scholars Katie Merwin mentioned King’s, which has 267 beds, is at full occupancy for this yr. There is a brief waitlist of 11 college students from different establishments, resembling Dalhousie and NSCAD.
Merwin mentioned the varsity has seen a rise within the variety of returning college students eager to dwell on campus, “however, we don’t collect the data that would make it possible for us to speculate on the reasons behind this increase.”
Tight housing market
Next door at Dalhousie University, all 2,328 residence rooms, which largely deal with first-year college students, are full.
“Dalhousie students, faculty and staff have always relied on Halifax’s broader housing market,” spokesperson Janet Bryson mentioned in a press release.
“As the Halifax population grows, our community is experiencing the tight housing market — so of course we are looking at what we can do to address that shortage, thinking both of immediate and longer-term demands; but this work is in the very early stages.”
She mentioned the varsity has a centralized useful resource centre for college students in search of housing and rental data on its off-campus housing web site. As effectively, the varsity has arrange a housing channel in its cellular app ” as a spot to share rental alternatives and we share sources not affiliated with the college that our college students discover useful – Facebook Marketplace, Kijij, Google Maps, and so forth.”
The college can be asking the broader Dal group to think about renting spare rooms or models to college students by Places4Students.
“We continue to ensure that our students coming to campus understand the housing market through proactive outreach. We also continue to provide a number of resources and supports to students,” Bryson mentioned.
At Saint Mary’s University within the metropolis’s south finish, a spokesperson mentioned residences — which may accommodate round 1,200 folks — stuffed up earlier this yr than ever earlier than.
In an electronic mail, Margaret Murphy, affiliate vice-president of exterior affairs, mentioned workers have been working by the wait record since April, and have been capable of supply areas to greater than 150 college students since then.
There continues to be a “small waitlist” for fall 2023, she mentioned, including the varsity is presently planning for a brand new residence on campus.
The college students’ affiliation for the varsity needs to see a centralized database created to assist college students discover off-campus housing.
“You have to rely on informal channels like Facebook marketplace, Kijiji, etc. The listings on there aren’t verified, there is no protection against scams,” mentioned Anubhav Gupta, vice-president of advocacy on the Saint Mary’s University Students’ Association.
“That puts students in a vulnerable position.”
Gupta mentioned he’s heard of circumstances the place college students, determined for housing, have put deposits down on residences “only for the listing to vanish.”
He mentioned it’s particularly tough for worldwide college students who won’t but pay attention to their rights as renters, making them extra weak to deposit scams and unsafe residing circumstances.
Gupta mentioned on-campus residence fills up shortly and mentioned there must be extra sources for these seeking to dwell off-campus.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
