Students express housing concerns in Calgary as campus residences reach capacity

With the start of the fall semester approaching, hundreds of students across Calgary are scrambling to find affordable housing as universities and colleges have run out of space and are struggling to provide on-campus housing options.

At the University of Calgary, more than a thousand students were reported earlier this week to be on the housing waitlist as of Aug. 9, around 250 more students than last year.

However, the university told CBC News that tally had since been whittled down to just 148 as of Aug. 16

Ermia Rezaei-Afsah, the student union president, believes the university hasn't been able to do much to mitigate the problem.

"The university is planning on building residences in the future. It's gonna take several years to build," he said.

"We want the university [to] publicly advocate for the same things we've been advocating for, for more affordable housing … but also to look into ways that they can maybe potentially expand the slots that they offer."

Rezaei-Afsah added the university has been looking into temporary solutions like hotels but needs to act quickly because students are forced to grapple with the same dilemma every year — compromise by accepting potentially unsafe options or, alternatively, commute from faraway locations.

"We constantly hear from students that often they just can't find anything in their price range that's nearby. If they do, they have to share several roommates … they have to live in squalid living conditions, in the lab, in dilapidated housing, places that we've heard about mould, we've heard about asbestos. And students don't really have many options."

Commuting a challenge for many

According to a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation that was released earlier this year, the rental vacancy rate for the Calgary metropolitan area is likely to fall to 1.1 per cent this year and drop further to one per cent in 2025.

Things are looking grim for students at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology — a spokesperson noted in an email that all spots are currently filled. 

"Residence is at capacity and this is not unexpected given the time of year. There is a waitlist but it's fluid — it would be inaccurate to provide a number until the end of the month," the spokesperson said.

The lack of affordable housing options has impacted students at Mount Royal University (MRU) as well — the university had around 30 people on its waitlist, as of Aug. 12.

Tala Abu Hayyaneh, the president of the students' association at MRU, believes it's quite expensive for students to access off-campus housing near the university, leaving them to rely on options available within the university or commute every day.

"I think, just in terms of transit access, a lot of our students live in areas in the city where transit is not an easy commute to campus and that affects their housing choices," she said.

"That is always something that we are working with the city on. Increasing transit frequency and availability to and from campus."

She added the university is proactively looking for solutions and is in touch with students on the waitlist.

"At the end of the day, we are doing everything that we can to address the housing crisis that we are in. It is an ongoing issue, not just for students but for everyone in the country, everyone in Calgary," she said.

"And I think the conversations that residents [are] having with different stakeholders are the same ones that we are having with our stakeholders. We are trying to see what is the best case solution, how can we find ways, our short term solutions but also long term solutions in the future."

Finding solutions

Mark Keller, director of resident services at Mount Royal University, said the university anticipated higher demand for housing this year and is working with students to offer alternative solutions, such as maintaining an off-campus registry of people who are looking to rent to students.

Students are also being offered spots whenever cancellations crop up, and Keller is hopeful more vacancies will open up in the winter. 

In the meantime, he's encouraging students to continue applying.

"Applications are still being accepted and you can still apply. And if space opens up through the fall term, if you still want to be on our waitlist, we're happy to still reach out to you and let you know if space opens up," he said.

"We also generally have more space available in winter term as students kind of come and go after the fall. So you can always reach out to us again in January and let us know if you're still interested. And if we do have spots available, we can make that work."