Despite hot housing market, 120 beds available for single students at MUN residence
Space still available at Paton College, MUN's traditional student residence
Memorial University expects a lack of affordable housing options to be an issue for students for subsequent semesters, but there is one option many aren't availing of.
MUN's traditional student residences at Paton College has space available.
Bruce Belbin, MUN's director of student residences and ancillary affairs, said Paton College offers standard, shared dorm rooms and there's 120 beds available.
"The 100-bed vacancy is pretty normal, I would say, in terms of the operation," Belbin said.
Staying at Paton College costs between $4,957 and $5,225 for a 15-week semester, which includes a mandatory meal plan.
Broken down, Belbin said rent is around $600 a month which includes heat, light, water, internet, safety, laundry services and more.
"It is actually probably cheaper to live on campus in those single rooms with all the amenities than it would be to find a place within the confines of the city, which is within a five-kilometre radius," Belbin said.
The mandatory student meal plan includes three meals per day at a cost of $28.50 a day.
'Doesn't seem like a crisis anymore'
Belbin said the vacancies at Paton College reflect students who have found a plan to live and those who don't want to live there for various reasons. Still, he said, the option is available.
"With 100 empty beds, it may not seem like a crisis anymore, right," Belbin said. "We say we have space, here's the price point, here's the services. You should really consider this. In a perfect world they would."
MUN has two other student residences for undergraduate students in MacPherson College and Burton's Ponds apartments.
Both facilities are full and slightly more expensive than Paton College.
"People want the single room experience and the single occupancy," Belbin said.
Roommates
Not all students want to share a house with four or five other roommates, but that is the option many pursue to secure lower rent rates.
Kenley Young, Puren Petel, Makan Amir, and Alex Taylor are among those students.
Young is renting a room for $530 a month. His rent is split between three people, totalling $1,600 a month.
Petel's rent is also split three ways. He lives in a three-bedroom apartment, totalling $1,700 a month.
Amir said his rent fluctuates because he pays utilities. He has roommates and pays $500 a month on average, but it can be higher.
Taylor said he lives with his friends and pays $600 a month.
Single apartments limited
In an access-to-information request filed by CBC News, MUN's president Neil Bose was informed by the internationalization office on April 12 that the rental market was still hot but not as bad as it was in the fall of 2023.
For example, in September 2023, after receiving an email from a student searching for housing, MUN's internationalization office suggested the former Comfort Hotel on 106 Airport Rd as a housing option effective until May 31, 2024.
Four months later, the province announced their three-year lease with the hotel's owner, Clayton Hospitality, to transform the hotel into transitional housing for homeless people.
When it was a hotel, one person could rent a room for $1,800 per month or $2,100 per month for two people.
Housekeeping, daily breakfast, linens, a fitness centre and other hotel amenities were included in the cost of rent.
End Homelessness St. John's is running the converted facility. Executive director Doug Pawson said he isn't aware of any students who might have lived at the hotel.
Despite high rental rates, the option to live in a hotel reflects some desire to live in a one- or two-bedroom apartment.
Bose was told these housing options are expensive and hard to come by.
Homesharing
Other students have availed themselves of home-sharing options through SpacesShared, a company that matches students looking for safe and affordable housing with someone with a spare room.
SpacesShared CEO Rylan Kinnon said the company focuses on intergenerational home sharing because students can help out the person they live with for up to five hours a week for a lower rent.
"Whether that's cutting the grass, shovelling snow, bringing in groceries, getting up on a chair and changing a smoke alarm, these are the kinds of things where a student can be an absolute game changer in a home and help someone be able to age in place in their community," Kinnon said.
Rent through SpacesShared is between $500 and $850 a room.
Additional housing options have become available through Latitude Living on Higgins Line in St. John's.
The former Super 8 hotel turned into an apartment building and markets itself to students, business professionals and health-care workers.
Property manager Colleen Maynard told CBC News they offer special pricing for students and corporations, which varies based on demand.
"We do have students presently residing here. The fully furnished all-inclusive is certainly a draw for them and certainly for a lot of people," Maynard said.
Building student housing
Ahead of the 2025 fall semester, more student housing options should become available through the University Apartments complexes under construction off of Westerland Road.
CBC News attempted to reach University Apartments regarding the costs of the facility. The company did not respond by the time of publishing this story, but an ATIPP revealed the facility will offer 700 beds with estimated price points of $1,200 per student per month minimum.
MUN's Housing Issues Management Team was designed to help address the housing crisis affecting the university's students.
That group hasn't met since the fall of 2023.
"Personnel who work with students on housing are reporting a clear improvement this fall compared to 2023," MUN communications director Chad Pelly said in a statement to CBC News.
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