B.C. gov’t putting $66M into student housing at OK College
The provincial government has announced $66 million for the construction of 376 new student beds at three Okanagan College campuses.
A total of 216 new beds are planned for the KLO Road campus in Kelowna. As well, the first-ever provision of student beds outside Kelowna will deliver 100 beds in Vernon and 60 in Salmon Arm.
“Students, we are literally building the doors of opportunity for you to walk through and to achieve the life you want to build,” Vernon-Monashee NDP MLA Harwinder Sandhu said Friday during a virtual press conference.
The $66 million for new student housing represents the government’s largest single government investment in Okanagan College infrastructure in the last 15 years, college president Jim Hamilton said.
“This investment is extremely timely, with increasing demand for more affordable housing being felt in each of these communities,” Hamilton said.
Students have been financially squeezed by rising rents for privately owned apartments, said Evan Smith, a member of the college’s students union.
“Paying as much or more in rent per month as college tuition is not acceptable,” Smith said.
For his part, Premier John Horgan said affordable student housing helps make campus life more interesting and fulfilling for young people as they complete their studies.
“There’s more campus life, there’s more of the social aspect to getting a post-secondary education,” Horgan said.
Mass-timber will be used to build the five new student housing buildings at the three campuses. The technology is said to reduce a building’s carbon footprint.
More than 500 direct and indirect jobs will be created by the construction project, the government estimates.