Finding housing in Hamilton an 'awful' and 'stressful' task for incoming international students

Tamish Shah, an incoming first-year student at Mohawk College in Hamilton, landed in Canada in mid August with no place of his own to live.

For months before he left Ahmedabad, India, for Ontario, he searched on Facebook and Whatsapp groups for housing. Then, just days before his flight, a rental he thought he secured fell through.

"I thought maybe after arriving I would have more luck, but it was still difficult," Shah told CBC Hamilton.

He stayed with his uncle for a week in Brampton, Ont., but, with no direct bus or train to Hamilton, he said commuting from there wasn't a realistic option.

Last week, he signed a lease for a place in Hamilton — a room in a house with three roommates that cost $150 over his budget and is still an hour bus ride away from campus. It'll do — for now.

"Still I have to search, because in winters, it will be really difficult to travel through bus," he said.

With the number of international students in Canada on the rise, many are calling for more housing options in cities across the country.

A record 550,150 international student study permits were issued last year, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). That's a 75 per cent increase from just five years ago.

The IRCC says it's reviewing its international student program, with the federal housing minister saying Monday the federal government is considering a cap on the number of international students to ease the pressure on the housing market.

In Hamilton, at least one councillor has shared concerns over the experience incoming students are facing this fall. 

"Because universities and colleges have not built sufficient residences, students of various means are subjected to some not very nice conditions in the private rental market," Ward 1 councillor Maureen Wilson said last week at a council meeting.  

"I'm looking for some assurance... that students who have moved to Hamilton or from Hamilton are not forgotten," she said.

McMaster residents expecting 760 international 1st year students

"Forgotten" is how an incoming McMaster University student from the United Kingdom is labelling her experience as she searches for housing.

Grace Lenihan said she had hoped that as an exchange student in a program at Sheffield University, she would get more support from the Canadian university.

"I was put on a waitlist for on-campus housing," she said. "I kind of gave up on it though when there was no follow up."

McMaster told CBC Hamilton it will welcome more than 760 international first-year students into residence for the upcoming academic year, comprising 20 per cent of the 3,900 students living in residence. 

It also said it reserves 40 spaces in residence for exchange students from other universities — those spaces are determined by lottery.

The university said a new graduate residence at 10 Bay St. S will soon accommodate 600 students, 252 of which will be able to move in this fall and the rest in January. 

Another 1,366 beds will be made available when the Lincoln Alexander Hall residence is completed in 2026, it said.

"Based on current enrolment trends, the university should be able to guarantee residence to all first-year students when Lincoln Alexander Hall opens," the university added.

"We began the Lincoln Alexander Hall project in 2017, and we need to find more ways to work with the city to reduce the more than five years it took to get project approval. We are hoping to get the city permits in the next few weeks so the project can break ground this fall," it said.

Lenihan is entering her third year of an integrated masters program in chemistry at the University of Sheffield, which offers the option to study abroad at McMaster University.

"It's been awful. I can't lie. It's been so stressful."

With time differences and managing expectations, she said it's been stressing her whole family out looking for housing.

"My parents are worried and we just had to take the bullet on our budget and other expectations."

Lenihan wanted a place walking distance to campus and was furnished, but that was really difficult to find on her budget, she said.

"I was definitely gobsmacked at how left in the dark you are when looking for places."

She found an unfurnished bedroom a week before her flight to Canada, which ended up being above her budget with six roommates, but a close walk to campus.

"I can't be picky, especially when I have a week before I leave." 

Had she known the challenges of finding housing in Hamilton, she said she might have chosen to go to another country altogether.

"Maybe I would have changed my mind. Maybe I would go to Australia or New Zealand, which were also options and I know that people who went there were way more looked after in the kind of housing accommodation process."

Students 'need to be extra aware' of online scams

Both Lenihan and Shah used Facebook to find their current housing, but both were aware that groups were often crawling with scams. 

"Facebook is my saviour," said Lenihan. "But we saw quite a few scams there. Luckily we didn't progress when things got shady."

Shah could tell a posting was a scam when landlords wouldn't have photos up, or refuse to talk on the phone.

"We are alone here so we need to be extra aware of these scams."

Shah's roommates are all in the same manufacturing engineering technician diploma program and he knows them from India — but even with them around he still feels lonely.

"Being alone here can make you very sad," he said. "It is very difficult to trust someone we don't know, because everyone is a stranger right now."

Lenihan's parents were worried about her finding a place to live and feeling alone as well.

"Obviously, as a parent, as a mom and dad, they were wanting me to be in a safe place, and be comfortable," she said.

Still, Shah wants to stay hopeful.

"My parents have motivated me a lot. They said that we have to have some hope, and we have to be stronger," he said.

"It's a little difficult for us to know some things but if we have patience all the problems can be solved."