Students face some unimaginable conditions as they live abroad for study.

Over the last decade, the number of students coming from abroad to study has risen steadily each year. In fact, the largest numbers of students coming to Canada can be seen entering the country from 2016 onward, with more than 5-million coming here during that period.

In 2023 alone, Canada experienced an all-time high in the number of international students entering this country, with the total coming in at almost 1.5-million. This was an increase of 29 per cent over 2022 when more than 800,000 students came for their studies.

While these numbers are spread across the country, more than 526,000 students came to study at one of the 47 post-secondary institutions in Ontario last year. This accounts for about 51 per cent of the total enrollment for Canada. Of course, students were not the only ones coming into the country, with those immigrating and temporary foreign workers (TFW) adding further to the numbers.

The sharp rise in the number of people coming to the country, coupled with a housing system that has not kept pace with the increase of people, has led to what can only be described as a crisis. While this crisis can be considered to span all provinces, many of the cities seeing the worst housing issues are in Ontario.

While high prices and an excess of competition are just a few of the things affecting those who are looking for places to live, some students are facing an extra struggle in their search for accommodation.

The housing issues seen in Toronto and the surrounding area includes things like overcrowding a residence with too many people, cramming multiple people into a room meant for one, an infestation of vermin, and more unacceptable amenities. All of this is only exacerbated with landlords charging high rent to each student, ensuring they make a profit.

Students have described sharing tiny apartments where the living room is used as a bedroom, or even living in the basement with just a mattress lying on the floor. Some of those who share these places pay at least $800 per month.

In many cases, students have been renting a room in a three-bedroom house that was filled with upwards of 10 people. This situation, described by a student was that the person who leased the entire house rented the rooms trying to maximize their profits. Each room was filled with at least three people and there were people sleeping in the living room with only a mattress on the floor. Moreover, the person on the lease agreement was getting rent from all the students in the house but was not paying the lease to the homeowner.

A problem for students who are getting stuck in these types of situations may start with where they are finding these rentals. Usually, they start by searching through Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji. While a quick source to find what they may need, these places are not vetted by reputable sources. This leads to landlords taking advantage of students who do not know any better, and who lack knowledge of the Canadian housing market.

Harsh Dubal, an international student from India, studies at Humber College. Describing the situation he’s faced upon first coming to Canada, he says the only place within his budget was a shared room in the basement. He stayed in this space for six months, sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

“We ended up signing a lease for six months for a basement. Again, the same thing, we did not have a bed frame. We actually made a mistake getting it because there were no windows. There was a tiny window where it was not even helpful for sunlight. And you know, in winter there’s no sun. Yeah, it was a very dim lit room. We had to change the room and everything, so the washrooms did not have curtains. We had to get a drawer and get the curtains, the sink would always end up leaking. The commode (toilet) would leak once or twice a day, then we’d have to unclog it. The kitchen was the worst part because it had cockroaches and rats coming in. So, we had to always do pest control.”

Issues like this are not unknown to students, however, for many out there – especially those attending George Brown College (GBC) – there are not many other choices for them. While a limited budget is prevalent reason why many students cannot get better living arrangements, most people attending GBC are not able to get into the limited student housing offered by the college.

The majority of post-secondary institutions in the province have student residences that are either right on campus or located within walking distance or short transit ride away. These places, often run by the school, offer things like fully furnished suites, meal plans, and housekeeping among other things.

For GBC students looking for residence, they can apply for The George. Located at 80 Cooperage St., the only official residence for the college offers 500 beds per year. Offering students fully furnished two-bedroom suites with television and cable, community kitchens for cooking, and housekeeping, staying here will cost $11,000 for a stay that lasts from Aug. 31, 2024 to April. 19, 2025.

Although this is probably the best place for students to stay, most can’t afford this option as it is beyond their budgets. Even if they are able to afford the high cost to live here during their academic studies, the limited space available means that some students are kept on a waitlist from which they may never come off. Compared to other colleges and universities in Ontario, GBC is one of the most lacking in terms of student residence with most other institutions offering at least two or more official buildings for students to live.

Last year GBC launched a housing taskforce, aimed at solving the housing crisis, while also supporting the campus master plan project. Encompassing a three stage plan, the taskforce finished their first phase – early research – and have moved onto phase two – deep dive. This will see the college work with stakeholders, community partners, and consultants to understand the needs of the GBC community.

The final phase – action and advocacy – will see the college continue to engage with governments and peers to influence policy, while working with experts in the field.

Daniel Wilson, director of campus planning development with facilities and sustainability, spoke of the progress thus far as they work to try and solve the crisis at hand.

“We’ve issued a survey, which was answered by about 1400 students, which was an excellent response rate, and showcased a lot of interest in the question and that survey, in addition to the in person focus groups, which is helping to build our research knowledge and are helping to build, our knowledge, our community, and what specific issues are undergoing and what specific needs they’re looking for, both from a unit typology perspective.”

While the taskforce’s work may end up seeing more accommodations added for students who need housing, there are still students who are struggling in their current situations.

A GBC student studying Computer Programming and Analysis, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared they are living with three other people living in a one-bedroom apartment. Their current setup sees two female students sharing the bedroom, while male students are sleeping in the hallway.

“So, the place where right now I’m living, I pay like, $400 monthly to live in the hall… two of the boy we are living in the hall, and two of the girls, they are living in the room. And basically, the place where I am staying right now, the whole area is like a rental property. So, nobody owns this place. It’s basically based on the lease,” they said. “So, our monthly lease is very low, like 1600 bucks per month. So divided by four, it’s like $400 here.”

In addition to having to sleep in the hallway and sharing one bathroom with three other people, the student notes that the apartment also has cockroaches and other insects causing issues in the space. This includes not being able to fully utilize the kitchen or keep food in the space.

“The problem in this apartment is bed bugs and cockroaches. It’s like a ground floor apartment so we had paid three to four times [for] bed bug control, pest control and everything, but the drainage system itself has lots of cockroaches, so we can’t get rid of the cockroaches from the kitchen. So, we don’t get access for making food inside the kitchen, or to put our own grocery inside the kitchen. It’s very tough for us to put any food in the kitchen.”

Despite issues like this, students continue to live in these situations, often spending most of their salaries because there are no other options available to them. Not having access to a safe and accessible residence at which to stay can greatly affect a student’s overall well-being. An initial report from the housing taskforce notes that during three on-campus engagement sessions, a broad consensus of students and employees agreed with this premise. The respondent also said the high costs associated with housing can become a barrier to learning.

GBC must take action soon in order to ensure that the harms of inadequate housing does not continue to compromise the well-being of its students. With upwards of 600 students sitting on a waitlist for the only residence – a residence that was only opened to students in 2016 – it is time to push ahead with plans to aid students in their housing needs.

Last year GBC purchased the Corus building beside their Waterfront Campus for the sum of $232.5-million. While this was part of their plan for the future, for at least the next 10 years, GBC will play landlord to a multi-million dollar corporation. While turning a building like that into a residence or housing would not be ideal – the college could have set out to acquire a building which could have been used for housing – and it does not help students who are struggling today.

If left unchecked, the crisis will only continue to get worse as landlords continue to take advantage of those who either do not know any better or cannot afford to get themselves into a better situation. Fighting back against the housing issues is a job for everyone, but the college that welcomes tens of thousands of students each year should actively be doing more to ensure their success and well-being are top of mind.