Move-in day for B.C. post-secondary students amid housing crisis | 24CA News
It’s that point of the yr when 1000’s of post-secondary college students make the massive transfer into dorms forward of the approaching faculty yr.
SFU college students who had been in a position to safe housing mentioned they really feel fortunate to get their spots.
“It’s my first day ever day (at Simon Fraser University). I’m from Windsor, Ontario,” Elizabeth Soulliere, an SFU scholar, mentioned.
“(I) applied for housing really early.”
Soulliere is likely one of the fortunate ones, because the Alliance of BC Students mentioned there are 1000’s who weren’t in a position to safe housing spots on campuses.
“The situation with student housing is awful for students. (Many) can’t find housing that is affordable and close to campuses for them,” Manpreet Kaur informed Global News, Alliance of BC Students’ chair.
“Many domestic students are choosing to live at home because that is the only option for them.
“There are also many rental scams out there, especially for international students who are vulnerable, which means most of them end up living with five to six other students in a suite because that’s all they can find and afford.”
Kaur mentioned in these cramped residing conditions, a lot of the time these worldwide college students don’t signal a proper lease settlement which leaves them with no protections underneath the Residential Tenancy Act.
She additionally mentioned those that are pressured to reside off campus should not have the identical entry to scholar sources as those that do and may not get the identical faculty group expertise.
At the University of British Columbia, greater than 13,000 college students are housed on the campus.
“About 4,000 first-year students arrived last week and (this weekend) is the last of the groups to move in at about 3,500,” mentioned Andrew Parr, UBC’s scholar housing and group companies’ affiliate vp.
“It’s a really exciting time of the year. (Campus housing) is coveted and this is a housing crisis we are facing in the Lower Mainland. At the summer peak this year, we had 8,000 students who wanted to live on campus that we couldn’t accommodate because we didn’t have enough space.”
Parr mentioned the college has not too long ago added greater than 5,500 beds within the final ten years with a plan so as to add 4,800 beds within the following decade.
“We are continuing to grow and make those investments but still we are not keeping up with the demand,” Parr mentioned.
UBC has shifted its 24-hour entrance desk service in scholar housing buildings to simply daytime hours as an alternative. Parr mentioned as an alternative of getting folks on the entrance doorways for all scholar buildings, they’ll have three roaming groups of their place.
“Students will know (the teams) phone numbers. They can reach out to them for access if they are locked out or for any other situations that may arise. There are some who think we are taking away some safety or aspects of what we offer at residence, but we think we are enhancing (student) safety and it’s a really good system.”
Parr mentioned the varsity might be consulting with college students because the yr progresses to see if the brand new system is working.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
