Student housing 'crisis' prompts call for B.C. government to change rules

A B.C. student group is calling on the provincial government to relax its rules on debt so post-secondary institutions can build more on-campus residences.

The Alliance of B.C. Students is asking for more money for student housing from the B.C. government, but its key request is actually a change to the existing rules. It wants the government to allow universities and colleges to take on debt for capital investment.

The organization released a white paper today detailing its case, saying this could lead to 20,000 more residence spaces, including 13,500 in Metro Vancouver.

That would be good for students, and would free up spaces for other renters looking for housing in an already tight market, said chair Alex McGowan.

"It's a crisis," said McGowan. "It's a gong show, it's worse than [students] have ever seen it."

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"We're asking the province to eliminate the red tape that prevents student housing from being built by universities," said McGowan.

Student rent pays building debt

The group argues debt should be allowed, because residence fees — and not taxpayers — would be able to service the debt, once the housing is built.

B.C. NDP housing critic David Eby said the proposal makes sense.

"If you can borrow the money to build the residence, and the rents from the students ... pay for all the supports that are needed and cover the cost of borrowing, why wouldn't the government allow the universities and colleges to do this?"

With the exception of the University of B.C., it's been 10 years since new on-campus housing has been built in the province, McGowan said.

UBC is in a special category, he said, because of the size of its endowment.

"A place like UBC, where they have a billion-dollar endowment, they found a way to sort of borrow from themselves and make that happen," he said. "Most universities have no avenue to pursue student housing even if they would really really like to."

B.C. exploring options, says minister

The group is also asking the B.C. government for a direct investment of about $180 million — or 10 per cent of the cost of new residences — to jump-start building.

In a statement, Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson said the province invests directly in post-secondary education, but housing is mainly the responsibility of the institutions.

However, he did say his ministry is "exploring the best way to increase the number of student residences."

"This includes looking at different financing vehicles to encourage and allow our universities to be part of the market housing phenomenon without the debt being placed into the provincial government books."