The student housing crisis is unique to the broader crisis, and will require different and more bold solutions
Canada’s housing crisis has been a top news item for years now. Despite fading into the background as Donald Trump has come to dominate Canadian political concerns, it still desperately needs our attention.
But as advocates adjust their strategies to a shifting political environments and prepare for an upcoming election where they’ll have to fight to make equitable housing a central concern for federal parties. We have to recognize that Canada’s housing crisis isn’t a single crisis, it’s multiple.
The housing crisis has affected renters drastically more than it has homeowners and home buyers. Long before prospective buyers faced the rising costs of a housing shortage, renters were facing the steep cost rises driven by a lack of regulation and an influx of highly profit-motivated private capital into the housing market.
These two housing crises weigh particularly heavy on student renters, whose unique situation has largely been ignored at the government level.
The student housing crisis is unique in three ways.
First, student renters aren’t afforded the same protections as regular renters. The Rental Tenancies Act, the piece of provincial legislation that outlines the responsibilities and protections afforded to renters and landlords, does not cover students who live in the same house as the owner or their child. This exemption leaves a number of students without the protections afforded by legally enforceable lease agreements.
The Rental Tenancies Act, the piece of provincial legislation that outlines the responsibilities and protections afforded to renters and landlords, does not cover students who live in the same house as the owner or their child.
Even for students covered by the act, its enforcement mechanism, the Landlord Tenant Board, is overburdened and underfunded and prioritizes resolving cases of non-payment of rent over issues of health and safety or landlord abuses. Students, whose rental terms revolve around the school year, would struggle with wait times that often exceed five months to resolve cases.
This inadequate protection only compounds issues students already face in finding safe, quality housing. We’ve all seen some strange renovations in student homes, oddly placed walls or awkwardly small rooms meant to squeeze more students into one house. But what can be a charming quirk in some houses is a safety hazard in others.
Because of the sheer number of student rentals across the Ainslewood and Westdale neighbourhoods, home inspections are rare and often inadequate. Dangerous and unsanitary houses slip through the cracks and students are left relying on the goodwill of landlords to deal with issues that could harm their health.
The race for student housing that often forces renters into unsafe circumstances is fueled by the last unique element of the student housing crisis, the lack student housing. But what if we could turn our existing housing into the adequate housing students need?
Students have a bold option to take issues into their hands: a tenant union. While most tenant unions are building specific, renters covered under the Rental Tenancies Act can legally organize neighborhood or community wide unions.
Establishing a tenant union that covers a large number of students would face some serious challenges. To succeed a potential union would need to go house by house recruiting every tenant in a house to establish bargaining power. Students' high turnover would hinder recruitment and staying power, but the potential benefits could be worth the effort.
A union could help provide students legal defense, fight rent hikes and improve conditions. It could also provide a better mechanism for advocacy at the municipal, provincial and federal level, helping fight for recognition of the student housing crisis as a real issue.
There are two unions on campus who together could provide the organizing capacity: CUPE 3906 has experience organizing tenants at 10 Bay Street while the MSU has the ability and structure to secure long term funding.
The other problem—the potential legal problem for a tenant union—is leverage. Renters have very little leverage over their landlords unless the landlord is breaking the law, as pursuing a rent strike is technically illegal.
But a potential student tenants union could use a carrot, not just a stick, to entice landlords. A union could finally build a proper housing portal where landlords compliant with legal requirements, with a history of treating union members well, can advertise their rentals. Creating a portal both students and landlords could finally trust.
The student housing crisis will exist as long as students remain underserved by the laws meant to protect them as renters. As long as we remain unorganized, then nothing about our unique housing crisis will change.
Amid Canada's housing crisis, the cap on international students will fail to address it and only comes at the cost of their education and futures
News flash: Canada is suffering from a housing crisis! What a surprise.
The lack of housing, and affordable housing at that, has been a chronic issue affecting off-campus students. In recent years, renting costs have dramatically increased..
Partly in response to the lack of affordable housing, the Canadian government implemented a two-year cap on the number of international students to be admitted into the country. They also implemented rules limiting these students from receiving work permits and buying homes in Canada.
Partly in response to the lack of affordable housing, the Canadian government implemented a two-year cap on the number of international students to be admitted into the country
According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the temporary cap would help to regulate the number of students in the country and reduce demand on the housing market.
Specifically, it limits the enrollment of international students to approximately 360,000 individuals, a 35% decrease from last year's statistics.
Each province or territory is receiving a cap that is proportional to their population. Each province and territory will receive a specified cap based on its population size and provinces are able to decide how they want to allocate their cap across their universities.
For example, Ontario is estimated to have a cap of 236,373 international students for this academic year, while Alberta will have a cap of 71,149 international students. Although these may seem like drastic differences, the amount of international students Ontario plans to admit is down 133,404 from last year while Alberta could experience an increase of 36,243 international students.
The international student cap will not solve the housing crisis because they are by no means the cause. More significantly, the cap will perpetuate unfair blame targeted towards these students, unrightfully holding them partly responsible for the state of the Canadian economy.
The idea that international students are a big contributor to the housing crisis is incorrect. Considering the deep and interconnected economic issues that have produced the current housing crisis, it should not be expected that cap will have any meaningful positive effect on the issue.
Unaffordable housing and rent costs, increasing inflation, the cost of building materials and difficulties within the labour market are some of the major contributors to the housing crisis. The slight contribution to our population that international students make is not the problem we face.
Considering the deep and interconnected economic issues that have produced the current housing crisis, it should not be expected that cap will have any meaningful positive effect on the issue . . . The slight contribution to our population that international students make is not the problem we face.
The government can take much more meaningful and needed action to combat the housing crisis, as well as the other crises we are facing that all contribute to the overall cost of living crisis.
Expanding initiatives and grants to build affordable social housing and implementing vacancy taxes on landlords who own vacant properties are just two examples of action the government could take to address the housing crisis at its roots. Creating programs that ensure grocery prices stay low and incentivizing businesses to pay a living wage are all steps that could be taken to address the current cost of living crisis.
Expanding initiatives and grants to build affordable social housing and implementing vacancy taxes on landlords who own vacant properties are just two examples of action the government could take to address the housing crisis at its roots.
By enacting the cap on international students, the government wrongly reinforces the idea that international students are the problem. Sadly, this could contribute to fostering contempt for and prejudice towards international students. Many citizens may feel resentment towards these students and create a negative environment for them to live in.
Although Justin Trudeau has stated that international students aren't the problem numerous times, the implementation of the cap contradicts this.
The cap can also prevent family members from being with each other. For example, a current international student may have a sibling who wants to attend university with them. However, because of the restriction, it may now be impossible for that international student to attend university with their sibling abroad. This can contribute to increase the isolation international students feel from being away from family.
Although the government has proposed many benefits to the cap on international students, it not only falsely blames international students for the housing crisis, it will also fail to provide any meaningful relief to the crisis. As such, the move by the federal government is a two-fold blunder that does not effectively serve its own citizens and reinforces a xenophobic narrative. Domestic and international students and Canadian citizens as a whole deserve much better from the government.
Following re-election as MSU president, Jovan Popovic sat down with the Silhouette to discuss the election, plans for his second term and student voter turnout.
Current McMaster Students Union president Jovan Popovic won the 2024 election and will be serving a second term. Popovic’s platform this year touched on several diverse topics, with a focus on addressing some prominent struggles faced by students, including food and housing insecurity.
One highlight of his platform was his proposed soup and bread initiative. With the aim of helping to alleviate student food insecurity, this program would serve complimentary soup and bread on campus. Popovic stated that students will be served four days a week and the initiative will be funded by a five dollar increase of the MSU membership fee.
Popovic added that the soup and bread initiative is a major priority, as rates of food insecurity among students are rapidly rising.
“I’ve had way too many students tell me they’re regularly skipping meals just to save money and that’s completely unacceptable,” said Popvoic.
Another notable point in Popovic's platform was the promised return of an on-campus homecoming in 2024. In a previous interview with the Silhouette during the 2023 presidential race, Popovic noted that McMaster has not hosted an on-campus homecoming event since before the COVID-19 pandemic and he remains committed to bringing this event back for students.
On the housing crisis, Popovic stated that he intends push McMaster to commit to not increase enrollment numbers any further. He cited that presently there is not even enough room for all first-year students to be guaranteed the option to live in residence and as such, increasing enrollment numbers would only add to the issues.
Popovic noted that presently first year students need a high school average of at least 90 per cent to be guaranteed residence.
“I think all first years should be given residence. All of them should have a place to live and this is why putting a cap on enrollment is so important” stated Popovic.
Popovic also stated that he fears the construction of new residences on campus, such as Peter George Centre for Living and Learning and Lincoln Alexander Hall, are being built to plan for increasing enrollment numbers, though these residences will still collectively house a relatively small number students compared to the continuously rising student population.
Another key pillar of Popovic's platform is to help student athletes and sports teams. Popovic aims to allow teams to fundraise by hosting free events at MSU-operated venues. Popovic stated he will dedicate a budget line for sports teams to host fundraising events at venues such as the TwelvEighty Bar and Grill in the McMaster University Student Centre.
Finally, Popovic promised to continue advocating for more liberal guidelines on the use of generative AI in academic work, as compared to the current ones. Popovic also stated in the interview that he advocated and continues to advocate against the use of AI grading and assessment by professor’s and teaching staff.
Following his return to work after a leave of absence during the election, Popovic stated that both the soup and bread program and the return of homecoming will be his top priorities.
Before the election, Popovic stated that he plans to hold a referendum for the increased fee to fund the program to take place next year. Post-election, Popovic believed that holding a referendum this semester to have the program running for next fall is best way forward.
“There is potential to get [the soup and bread program] operational for September, if a referendum is run right now,” stated Popovic.
In contrast, if a referendum was held in the fall, the program likely wouldn't be operational until Fall 2025.
Popovic was also asked during the sit down, if there were any aspects of his opponents platforms that he sees merit in and would consider building into his plans for next year.
In response, Popovic stated that aspects of Luca Bernardini’s proposed MSU app were interesting and held merit. Though, Popovic stated he thought an app would be difficult to build and furthermore difficult to garner traction with the student body.
Popovic highlighted that he thought Bernardini’s idea of having a reward system for students who attend MSU and club events would be an excellent way to increase student engagement on campus. Popovic also stated he thinks students are hesitant to attend events for the first time, but once they do, they come out again more often.
Reflecting on the MSU presidential debate, Popovic noted that it was carried out professionally and respectfully. He stated that himself and his opponents did attack one another, but did so only in ways that pertained to their platform points, without making any personal attacks.
“There were also candidates going at each other, but I think that's positive. It’s called a debate for a reason,” stated Popovic.
However, Popovic noted the turnout to the debate was relatively low and disappointing. He stated that this low turnout may have been due to a problem with the audio system, resulting in only students actively watching the debate being able to hear it in the MUSC atrium.
Overall, Popovic stated he believed he performed well at the debate. He stated that the questions he was asked were valid and that he was not faced with any to which he could not adequately answer.
“I wish I knew each candidate's platform a little bit more in depth. I didn’t know a lot of the specifics of each person’s platform, which meant that I was very focused on myself,” said Popovic.
Popovic stated that in comparison to last year, voter turnout was 16.4 per cent, which is up 56 per cent compared to last year. However, Popovic stated that voter turnout is still very low.
“Years back we would consistently reach about 25 per cent," stated Popovic.
Despite the low turnout, though Popovic reflected positively on the increase in engagement. He stated that last year’s election saw the lowest historical turnout, at just 10.2 per cent. Popovic also stated this increase was more than he had hoped for and that it will take several years to achieve a voter turnout per cent in the high twenties again.
Concluding the interview, Popovic was asked if he would consider running for a third term next year.
Popovic responded that he does not intend to run again next year.
“While I think that continuity is good from time to time. . . I think that having an element of change is a really positive thing for the organization. Ultimately, we’ll see what I’m able to do in the year ahead," stated Popovic.
Though he stated that if he sees ways he could further improve the MSU by running for a third term he may consider it, he does not presently think he will.
"I think I will be able to accomplish all that is important this term, but you never know. It depends on what opportunities arise, if I think that I could really help the MSU a lot more, but I think I'll be able to leave my mark after two years of service,” stated Popovic.
The Silhouette: Please introduce yourselves.
Hilary Menezes: My name is Hilary Menezes. I'm a third-year student at McMaster and I'm currently pursuing an English and cultural studies degree with a minor in political science and a certificate in leadership.
Madison Menezes: I'm Madison and I'm in my second year of mechanical and biomedical engineering.
Please elaborate on the Love Packs project.
HM: Love Packs was started in the pandemic around Valentine's Day last year . . . We realized that there are a lot of people who are super generous and donate around Christmas time and holiday season. But, moving into the new year, we realized that there weren't really many supports for those facing homelessness or abuse [and] in shelters . . . So, when my work hosted a goal funder, we came up with Love Packs. When we were stuck at home during the pandemic, we wanted to pick up something actionable. That was the main driving force. Just hearing about the reactions of all of the women and children and homeless folks that we provided for inspired us to continue it to be more than a one-time initiative. We ended up getting to do another one in the summer and now we're taking it into 2022.
MM: Just thinking about the degree of how much more difficult the pandemic is for someone living in a shelter was also part of my reason for wanting to really help. We just wanted to make sure that we could provide them with things that they could use day to day and then also other gifts that would make them happier.
HM: To add on, something kind of unique about Love Packs is we tried to go beyond things like toilet paper, deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste. We provide that but we also try to include little gifts. We wanted to give people things that they might consider to be luxuries and might not have access to. These are actual people who deserve to be celebrated. So, we had the opportunity last year to give some fun gifts like makeup, snack packs and different kinds of fancy coffees and teas. We had Starbucks donate some fancy coffee. We really try to incorporate that into our philosophy of not only just giving the essentials but trying to go a little bit above and beyond that.
Could you guys talk a little bit more about the Love Packs team?
HM: Last year we did it with just the two of us in our basement. Especially with COVID, it was one of the things where we thought that we can't get more hands because at that point, vaccines weren't so much a thing and cases were through the roof. Still, it was great to see so many people text me. We even had some friends from middle school who we hadn't talked to in five years offer donations. It was cool to see people helping in that capacity. Even then, two or three of my close friends and our parents helped us transport different things when we had super large donations or for the final trip when we brought everything to the shelters. Our communities helped out a lot and we were so grateful. That inspired us to make it bigger this year and grow the team. We’re gaining some traction and are actively recruiting volunteers right now. In fact, we just hired our [executive] team because we want to grow this to reach out to more people this year and give Love Packs to more people.
How have you guys been feeling about just the General McMaster community then? And I guess the communities that you've been interacting with as a whole
MM: I started at McMaster without really having been on campus. But I found it fascinating even with online learning. It's just a really welcoming environment and I definitely found a lot of people who are happy to connect. We've even had one of the local doughnut shops, Donut Monster, donate to our project. It was just really nice to see people in Hamilton contributing as well.
HM: It's been amazing to see how many people from McMaster have either donated to us or businesses have supported us. Actually, the guy who drove the doughnuts from Donut Monster to our home in Mississauga, I met him through mock trial at McMaster. So, I had only known him for maybe not even a year through meetings once a week. But he still said that he'd do it. It was great to see how people are so willing to help out.
