‘We’ve had our fair share of living off of bread and butter’
University students battling high costs, lack of vacancy to securing housing for next semester
Keiondra Chaulk feels lucky she’s been living in the same house she moved into when she first came to St. John’s three years ago.
But not everyone in the city is so fortunate.
“The renting situation is horrendous,” said the 21-yearold hairstyling student at Academy Canada.
“There are people who have been forced out of their homes and have become homeless because of their landlords selling the house or because they can’t find another house or apartment to move into on time.”
The pricing “is insane,” Chaulk said, noting a one bedroom apartment is anywhere from $900 to $1,100, and tenants have to pay their own utilities without a parking spot and no pets are allowed.
“If you are lucky enough to find an apartment, then you are living off the bare minimum to survive. I live paycheque to paycheque and have spent a few days going hungry just to pay rent,” she said.
“Affordable apartments are almost non-existent at this point.”
Tenants are also asked to meet too many requirements to be able to rent an apartment in the city, Chaulk said.
“Landlords are expecting you to have proof of income and a lot won’t let you rent if you’re living paycheque to paycheque like most people in the city,” she added.
“You also need references from previous landlords, and they won’t accept you if you’re new to the city and haven’t lived on your own rent. Not to mention the damage or security deposits sometimes ends up being more than your rent.”
‘EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE’
Jisan Ahmed, a fourth-year computer science student at Dalhousie University in Halifax agrees the rental applying process is getting too complicated for most people.
“Landlords always require proof of income, bank statements and a lot of references,” he said.
“So, if you’re new here, if you’re not a working professional, it’s extremely hard to find a place to live that is reasonable, especially for students who are still in school or first or second year.”
It also feels like a race, Ahmed said.
“We once found a place that was close to reasonable - $2,000 for a two-bedroom apartment. The ad was posted about six hours ago. We immediately reached out to the landlord and he said he was having 20 applicants and about 10 viewings already scheduled. That’s just extremely competitive,” he said.
Ahmed also noted the average rent of bachelor apartments in Halifax is somewhere around $1,500, a one-bedroom apartment is around $1,800, and two bedrooms range from $2,000 $2,500 depending on the location, which “is extremely expensive for anyone to afford.”*
“Compared to before the pandemic hit, now it looks like the vacancy rate has decreased below one per cent. On top of that, lots of landlords are charging for unreasonable things because they know there’s not enough vacancy and thousands of students are coming to our city each year. And they are trying to take advantage of that,” he said.
While it’s illegal for landlords to ask for anything more than half the rent as security deposit, according to Access Nova Scotia, it’s not common knowledge and Ahmed thinks “a lot of new international students fall for such scams.”
There’s no housing support from universities, Ahmed said.
“Universities provide no support at all to students who fail to find housing,” he said. “You’re pretty much on your own. It’s shocking, especially when you look at how much we pay for tuition and school’s facilities.”
PRICE AND VACANCY
Grace Biswas knows exactly what it means when you get no help from the school on the hunt for affordable housing.
“I didn’t even know they (the housing support system) existed,” said the Holland College journalism alumnus in Charlottetown.
“I was still a student (switching from UPEI to Holland College) and I couldn’t find an affordable room for me to live,” she said. “Basically, I had to find an apartment in two weeks because my contract was over on Sept. 1.”
She ended up finding a room in Charlottetown to move in, and asked the landlord to give her two days to send the deposit money. Her landlord agreed but did not provide any contracts. She later found out her landlord already found someone else for the room because she was “taking too long” and “this was too stressful” for the landlord.
She had to stay in a tiny storage room, which was her only option at the time.
Adam Mackenzie, the president and chief executive officer of the UPEI Student Union, said the two major challenges with student housing on P.E.I. right now are price and vacancy.
“The price of student housing is far from sustainable for the average student. In fact, the UPEISU’S housing survey in 2021 found that students pay anywhere from $500 to $1,100 a month for rent and utilities. These are very difficult financial goals to meet while studying full-time,” Mackenzie said in an email.
“The second student housing barrier is vacancy. There was only a 0.2 per cent vacancy rate in 2018, and we can only imagine that this is even lower now.”
Unfortunately, there are limited resources to aid students, he said. The students’ union offers emergency funding to students who need it. The university also offers a couple different programs, such as the Off-campus Housing website and the Homestay Program, which provides an accommodation option to students who prefer a “family like’’ living arrangement.
“There are also different rental vouchers being offered by the government; however, we do hope to see more supports for student housing coming from the government in the very near future,” Mackenzie said.
ROOMMATES
Chaulk said one of the most common solutions for the current student housing crisis is
to look for roommates. She said the number of ads putting up to find roommates to fill in houses and apartments are “insane.”
Ahmed said his hunt for affordable apartments and a roommate “has been an interesting experience.”
“We posted the ad (of finding a roommate) a few week ago. And within like three hours, we got 64 requests,” he said. “It’s a very overwhelming process to just reply to everyone and to make sure they’re a good fit.”
Chaulk said there’s also a dangerous aspect to having strangers as roommates, but lots of people are left with no other choices.
“You don’t know who these people are that you’re letting into your house. But at this point, you have to do what you have to to survive, even if that means inviting random strangers to live with you or to go hungry for a few days,” he said.
“We’ve had our fair share of living off of bread and butter, and we’re one of the fortunate ones. At least we have a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in – many don’t anymore.”