Students need decent housing

There’s a student housing crisis brewing in southwest Kitchener and the sooner Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and city council deal with it the better.

They did the right thing, as well as the most popular thing, last week when they blocked a stacked townhouse complex for students from being built near Conestoga College.

But that won’t end the demand for this kind of accommodation — and it won’t insulate the Lower Doon neighbourhood from change.

What everyone needs is a comprehensive, workable student housing growth plan for this part of the city.

Conestoga College has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years and now has more than 11,000 full-time students.

That’s good for the students being trained for rewarding jobs, good for the city that hosts them and where they spend a lot of money, and good for the Ontario economy that needs the skills they will acquire.

But many of these students have a hard time finding a safe, decent place to live while they study — and as a community we should help them get that.

Because on-campus housing at Conestoga College can take only 500 people, many students search elsewhere — preferably as close to the Doon campus as possible. And that’s wrecking a long-established residential area.

For years, residents have complained about a creeping student ghetto made up of more than 150 converted family residences, many housing six to 10 students, some of whom live in renovated garages. The transformation of much of Lower Doon has brought with it garbage, noise, parties and streets clogged with illegally parked cars.

The year-round residents don’t want that. But they also fought the proposal for a 175-bedroom purpose-built complex that would have had a live-in supervisor and been subject to yearly inspections.

That project was arguably too big, too high and too close to the neighbours.

But what comes next? Saying no to every change is not a realistic option.

Kitchener plans to launch a major study of the area next year. It would be better if it started tackling the problem sooner.

The city needs to get all the players together at the same table — residents, students and college officials, in addition to city staff and politicians.

We need to know how much new student accommodation is needed. And we need to find a place to put it.

Although the college owns plenty of land in the area, Conestoga president John Tibbits has said students often prefer living off-campus. Perhaps.

But could the college partner with a private developer who could build on land leased from the college? Could the city help make that happen by offering incentives to potential developers?

Ontario cities with community colleges might have an example or advice to offer Kitchener.

One hopeful note was struck last week by Lower Doon resident Shona Scott who said the right plan could benefit everyone if, in addition to more student housing, it brought new shops, restaurants and an urban vibrancy into the neighbourhood.

Scott’s optimism makes us hope that if this issue is managed well, everyone can come out happier.