Post-secondary students facing housing shortage for upcoming school year in Greater Victoria

Victoria -

Finding a place to live in the capital region for the upcoming semester at the University of Victoria is turning out to be pretty tough for a lot of people.

Avi Patel is one of them. The Niagara Falls resident is in his third year studying physics and astronomy at UVic.

“For the last few weeks I’ve sent 30 to 40 emails,” said Patel in a Zoom interview with CTV News from his parents’ home in Ontario.

All of those emails have resulted in very few responses and even fewer virtual viewings.

“I apply, I give them my references, everything I can do,” said Patel. “I’m still not getting the rooms and I’m not exactly sure why.”

Part of explanation is that students are now returning to campuses across the capital region after a year of virtual schooling due to the pandemic.

“Students are finding it very difficult to find housing,” said Robin Pollard, director of campaigns and community relations for the University of Victoria Students’ Society.

“We’re getting phone calls from parents and students just trying to find anything that will work.”

Pollard says landlords often don’t want to rent to students, who are stigmatized as difficult, disruptive tenants. She also points to municipal bylaws as a major cause of the problem.

“(Those bylaws include) Oak Bay’s policy that restricts three unrelated people living in one house at one time or the fact that secondary suites are made illegal in Oak Bay,” said Pollard.

Last year, Saanich amended its bylaw to allow up to six unrelated people to live in a shared house.

On UVic’s campus, there are 2,100 beds in student residences. All of those are already spoken for. An additional 783 are currently under construction, but won’t be completed until September 2022.

“For what I’ve heard, there’s many students that (are) considering either deferring if they can’t get a place to live in Victoria or trying to find a different place to go to school,” said Pollard.

In the meantime, Patel is trying to stay positive.

“Just this morning, I got another meeting tonight,” said Patel. “I’m going to see how that goes.”

But if that doesn’t work out, he’s going to have to make some tough decisions.

“My options are to stay in Ontario or if any of my friends have a place to stay, but I think that’s quite unlikely,” said Patel.

Staying in Ontario could mean putting his education on hold for at least another semester.