'There's a fair amount of panic': UVic students face unprecedented housing shortage
With days to go before it’s back-to-school time, some university students are facing major stress looking for a place to live in Greater Victoria’s already tight rental market.
“There’s a fair amount of panic in most of them,” says University of Victoria student Lorissa Corrie.
She’s been watching people post on a variety of social media sites in their search for housing, along with staff from UVic.
“The university is certainly aware that there are students out there who are looking for accommodations,” says vice-president of student affairs Jim Dunsdon.
The post-secondary institution has a $200-million expansion project underway to add roughly 780 beds on campus. But the suites won’t be ready until next fall, so the school is pleading with homeowners to open their doors if they can.
“This is the tightest I’ve seen it for students,” says Dunsdon.
Greater Victoria’s rental market has long been plagued by low vacancy rates. The latest figures, dating back to October 2020 from Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation puts the region at a 2.2 per cent vacancy rate. It’s unknown whether it’s worsened since then – the newest stats won’t be release until fall.
But UVic says some landlords have been hesitant to rent during the pandemic and others have converted bedrooms into office space to work from home, taking those places off the market. Plus, hundreds more students are coming to the self-proclaimed “destination university” this fall than last year.
“What we’re trying to do is promote in every way possible the need out there to our local community in hopes that the community will respond as it has in previous years,” says Dunsdon.
UVic student Levi Timmermans says he spent time searching for a place to rent every day. He landed a place after replying to an ad without any pictures and a brief description.
“The guy was saying they had like 50 people coming to look the next day,” he says.
Anyone with space to rent is encouraged to post on places4students.com.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.