UBC has about 50,000 students. About 6,000 are still on a waiting list for on-campus housing as rental units off campus are scarce and increasingly priced beyond the reach of many.

UBC has about 50,000 students. About 6,000 are still on a waiting list for on-campus housing as rental units off campus are scarce and increasingly priced beyond the reach of many.
Photo Credit: (Christer Waara/CBC

Vancouver housing shortage now affecting students

Many news stories have covered the skyrocketing prices of housing in and around the western port city of Vancouver.

With the fall school season just around the corner, some 6,000 students at Vancouver’s University of British Columbia are still waiting for spots in on-campus housing, and the cost of nearby housing is prohibitive.

UBC has some 50,000 students each year.

The astronomical cost of buying a house or even a condo in and around the city has resulted in many people giving up the dream of ever owning their own home.  However, the high ownership prices have also now transferred to even rental prices.

Vancouver house prices continued to skyrocket, but so too are rental prices and even then finding a place is hard as vacancy rate is below 1 percent.
Vancouver house prices continue to skyrocket, but so too are rental prices and even then finding a place is hard as vacancy rate is below 1 percent. © Christer Waara/CBC

While inflation in Canada is around 2 percent, a University of British Columbia professor says rental prices are expected to jump by up to 20 percent.

While there are rent controls, Tom Davidoff of the Sauder School of Business says landlords seek to get new tenants as new leases are not restricted by controls, and on the other hand, they is a great incentive to sell the property on the red-hot housing market, thereby reducing rental availability.

To deal with student housing, the university is investing some $450 million creating new beds for students, and that 1,048 new bed spaces are opening this fall.

UBC’s demonstration ’Nano Studio’ set up in the AMS Student Nest earlier this year.
UBC’s demonstration ’Nano Studio’ set up in the AMS Student Nest earlier this year. At 13 square metres, its slightly less than twice the size of the minimum requirement for a prison cell in Canada. However, reasonable rent predicted at about $700 per month will be very attractive. © Rafferty Baker/CBC

Andrew Parr, the university’s managing director of student housing and hospitality services, noted that in the past some students have resorted to living on boats or in vehicles when they couldn’t find or afford a room.

One idea the university is planned are so-called “nano studios”.

The units, announced last year,  contain a fold down bed, desk, closet, two burner stove and sink, and closet bathroom.

Fold out bed, desk, closet bathroom, sink, two-burner stove, all in 13 square metres. Andrew Parr, UBC’s managing director of student housing and hospitality services, shows nano-studio suite to an interested student in February. The units won’t be ready unitl 2019 however.
Fold out bed, desk, closet bathroom, sink, two-burner stove, all in 13 square metres. Andrew Parr, UBC’s managing director of student housing and hospitality services, shows nano-studio suite to an interested student in February. The units won’t be ready unitl 2019 however. © Rafferty Baker-CBC

Some 70 studios will be included in a larger 650-bed complex to be ready by 2019.

At 13 square metres, many students were impressed with the model set up in the university atrium, although others wondered how they would fit their belongings into such a small space.

Of interest, the minimum size for a prison cell in Canada with a sink and toilet is seven square metres.

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