International students struggle to find affordable housing, some facing homelessness

From high rents to scams to excessive paperwork, students and advocates say the B.C. housing market has gotten worse over the last few years.

Many students find themselves so desperate to find a place to live, they accept unsafe and unhygienic conditions, including Amy Choi, an international student at The University of British Columbia.

“Last year, I had a huge leakage on my ceiling and my landlord did not tell me anything about malfunctions of the house. I had to deal with it during finals week, but I was really desperate for housing so I had to just sign up for it," she recalled.

Despite being a returning student, she still hasn’t secured a place to live long-term.

“Everyone’s competing and they’re even collecting reference letters for it-- for housing-- which I don’t really think is necessary and everything is also just incredibly expensive," said Choi.

She never expected it to be this challenging to find affordable housing.

“We just have to be grateful that we at least have a place to live and conveniently commute to campus," she said, adding that she has friends who live far away and are forced to commute for hours.

Choi is not the only one struggling as advocates say the housing crisis has put international students in a vulnerable position.

They say many get scammed out of thousands of dollars or are forced to accept unsafe conditions.

"There are an estimated four to five per cent of migrant students who are homeless, and when we consider that there are nearly 1.1 million migrant student workers in Canada, that's tens of thousands of people that we’re talking about," said Sarom Rho of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

She said many international students come from working-class families and find themselves in low-paying service sector jobs to make ends meet.

"When international students are in the situation where they have to pay for high tuition fees in order to maintain their immigration status, they are forced to work, and we all know that the wages are very low. And employers regularly exploit current and former international students by also promising them permanent residency," said Rho.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, a record 551,405 new study permits were issued in 2022.

To ease the pressure on the housing market, Ottawa is considering a cap on the number of international students it’s accepting.

"I think that's one of the options that we ought to consider," said housing minister Sean Fraser last month.

Dale M. McCartney, an assistant professor who specializes in international student policy at the University of the Fraser Valley, argues immigrants are not to be blamed for the housing crisis.

"I think that this is one of these issues where international students are being scapegoated because they’re politically vulnerable," he said.

"Even if we cap international students tomorrow, it doesn’t mean we’re suddenly going to have more housing because the problem is not the students, it’s the housing policy," he continued.

Advocates say international students need more power and protections in place and are pushing for permanent residency for all.