More than 50 Grenfell campus students are waiting for housing, and MUN is asking for help

Memorial University's Grenfell campus has issued a call for help to house students moving into the Corner Brook area, and the president of the school's student union says there needs to be an investment in long-term solutions.

Carolyn Parsons, Grenfell campus registrar and director of student services, said Tuesday there's always a need for housing at the start of the school year but this year's wait-list, 55 students, is longer than usual. Earlier this month, MUN issued a public call for housing, asking anyone with an available property or room in their home to get in touch with the campus.

"There are some challenges this year, and if anyone is debating whether or not they're going to rent their room or their apartment, maybe this will convince them to try," Parsons said.

The campus has also hired a short-term housing co-ordinator to help people find accommodations, Parsons said, working with landlords and helping incoming students make connections.

On Monday federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Ottawa is considering a cap on the number of international student permits it hands out in an effort to ease housing pressures on Canadians. Parsons said a cap would be "very unfortunate," adding Newfoundland and Labrador needs international students to encourage growth and university enrolment.

Premier Andrew Furey on Tuesday also said Newfoundland and Labrador needs to attract people to the province. 

"We do need to continue to grow our population. We need to balance that with the housing needs that are required," Furey said

International students face high cost, prejudice, says student union

Hadiza Bello, president of the Grenfell Campus Student Union, says a cap would be a bad idea, especially when international students are already facing prejudices when looking for accommodation.

"It's been a mix of there being some prejudice with landlords not wanting to rent to international students.… They have fears of renting out to international students in that way. Some people think they're not clean," Bello said Tuesday.

"With the increase with cost of living and wages being the same, a lot of us can't afford to live. That's one of the reasons why I stopped living off campus and moved on campus, because it just got too expensive."

Bello said rents in some ares are too high for students.

She called the campus's public plea for housing a good first step but says more needs to be done to prevent future problems. Some students who find themselves, say, renting a room in a resident's house might not to do that for the long-term, she said.

"We will still come back to the same issue of we have more students than we have accommodation for."

Grenfell vice-president Ian Sutherland said long-term options are being considered.

One project in what Sutherland called the "dreaming phase" is colloquially known as the Thrive Centre, a new student centre that could double as a multigenerational housing option for the Corner Brook region down the road.

"[It would be] a facility that is housing students, retirees, people who are looking to downsize, but one that at its core is for students and university life," Sutherland said.

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