Experts warned that the surging demand for rental accommodations is exacerbating the prevailing high housing costs. Temporary residents, including international students and temporary foreign workers, are also driving up rental prices.
Experts warned that the surging demand for rental accommodations is exacerbating the prevailing high housing costs. Temporary residents, including international students and temporary foreign workers, are also driving up rental prices.
The influx of international students to Canada has reached unprecedented levels, further straining the nation’s already stretched housing supply.
Experts warned that the surging demand for rental accommodations is exacerbating the prevailing high housing costs, the National Post reported.
Steve Pomeroy, a policy research consultant and senior research fellow at Carleton University’s Centre for Urban Research, has shed light on the complex situation.
Pomeroy emphasized that the mounting pressure on Canada’s housing market isn’t solely due to the rise in permanent residents, which exceeded 400,000 in 2022, with the government aiming to reach 500,000 annually soon.
Temporary residents, including international students and temporary foreign workers, are also driving up rental prices.
“Temporary foreign workers and students are going to be renters, as opposed to owners,” Pomeroy said.
Average national rents surged by over 10 percent last year and are anticipated to continue rising this year. However, cities like Toronto and Vancouver have witnessed even more significant spikes in rental prices.
Data unveiled earlier this year by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada revealed that the number of international students with valid student visas studying at Canadian post-secondary institutions surpassed 807,750 by the end of 2022.
The figure, which represents a 30-percent increase from 2021’s count of 617,315 students, signifies the highest level ever recorded.
Historically, Canada has experienced an annual growth rate of international students between six to nine percent, excluding 2020 when the figures were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pomeroy argued that universities play a pivotal role in driving up these numbers as they view international students as a source of substantial revenue, given the significantly higher tuition fees they can charge.
“In Ontario, university tuition fees are frozen, grants are frozen, but the only variable that universities have to generate new revenues is international students, so they naturally go and chase those,” Pomeroy stated.
The surge in visiting students is creating an intense demand at the lower end of the rental market, where affordability is already a challenge for low-income workers, fixed-income seniors, and those reliant on social assistance.
Benjie Rustia, an official with an international immigration and study agency near Manila, Philippines, highlighted that prospective international students are well aware of the tight rental market they will encounter upon arriving in Canada.
“They are well informed by their relatives or friends in Canada,” Rustia stated. “Making informed decisions is the basic aspect for the process for international students, and are based on thorough research and understanding.”
In recent weeks, the case of an international student from India discovered living under a bridge in east Toronto has drawn attention to the issue, underscoring advocates’ concerns that an affordability crisis is leaving growing numbers of foreign students homeless.
Ontario remains the most popular destination for international students, with over 411,000 foreign students enrolled in the province’s post-secondary institutions in 2022.
British Columbia ranks second with 164,000 students, followed by Quebec (93,000), Alberta (43,000), and Manitoba (22,000).
While India boasts the largest cohort of international students in Canada, with 319,130 students, the Philippines is witnessing a notable surge in student arrivals.
Canada issued 25,295 study permits to Filipino students in 2022, marking a 76-percent increase from the 14,355 visas issued the previous year. As of June, 11,400 permits were granted to Filipino students.
Rustia pointed out that his clients often seek schools with on-campus residence options or opt for schools located near friends and relatives already in the area.
Recent reports described long wait lists for on-campus housing at Calgary universities, with 740 students waiting for housing at the University of Calgary, and the city’s Mount Royal University establishing a waiting list for their 950 dorm rooms for the first time in the school’s history.
Solving this problem could be done by striking partnerships between schools, governments, and developers, Pomeroy said.
He suggested utilizing existing programs, such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s rental construction financing initiative, to encourage the construction of student-centered rental properties and alleviate pressure on local residential rental markets.
“Investing in student housing now could save considerable costs down the line, preventing homelessness and the need for expensive interventions,” Pomeroy concluded.
