Students with 'nowhere else to go' call on city for housing help

Post-secondary students in Ottawa are calling on the city to take action after a report revealed many are paying sky-high rent to live in dingy, crowded conditions amid a worsening housing crisis.

The University of Ottawa Student Union (UOSU) and its housing committee surveyed more than 600 students and drew conclusions from 410 responses to compile its student housing caucus report. 

Coun. Jeff Leiper, who chairs the city's housing and planning committee, invited UOSU representatives to present their findings at city hall on Wednesday.

According to the report, students are paying an average rent of $927 per month — $1,020 per month for those renting from corporate landlords.

Leiper, who said he was "compelled" by the report's depth of research, said it accurately captures the student housing experience in Ottawa, particularly when it comes to cost.

"That is extremely concerning," Leiper said. "I think that they have made some really compelling points about the financialization of housing that speak ... to the need for a much greater not-for-profit investment in housing."

Alex Stratas, the student union's advocacy commissioner, said the survey revealed some students are living seven or eight to a single unit because they can't afford rent.

"It's getting harder and harder to afford any form of housing, and never mind tuition, never mind food, never mind transit," Stratas said.

The report blames a rental market that benefits landlords but makes students "the canary in the coalmine."

The report calls on the city to enact key policy changes including creating "affordable student housing incentive zones" within five kilometres of college and university campuses. It also recommends the city fund community land trusts and provide incentives for non-profits and housing co-operatives.

"Some of what they were asking for looks an awful lot like the existing community improvement programs for affordable housing that we already have," Leiper said. "Unfortunately, we've chosen not to go down the acquisition path, but there is still the potential that the federal government may go down that path in the absence of city action."

No special incentives for affordable student housing

In a statement to Radio-Canada, the city said some of the report's recommendations aren't permitted under provincial law, but it is exploring a new zoning policy near post-secondary institutions. 

"The City has invested more than $200 million in the construction of new affordable housing since 2022, with support from all levels of government," the city said. "While there are no financial or zoning incentives specifically for affordable student housing, the funding is used to support affordable housing projects from the planning stages through to construction."

James Adair, the UOSU board member who oversaw the survey, said many students have simply run out of better options.

"We saw a lot of that — students being willing to accept really poor quality conditions because there's really nowhere else to go," he said. "It's that or it's pay $1,500 a month for a new development in Sandy Hill — or it's homelessness."

Leiper said he believes Ottawa would be made better by building the "kind of city that students are asking us to build."

"It's refreshing to see that they're really engaged and really want to help us," Stratas said. "They just didn't know how, they didn't hear our voice."