This text is part of the special Real Estate section
Because they must navigate a saturated and unaffordable rental market with limited incomes, the province’s students are particularly vulnerable to the housing crisis, while also putting pressure on the rental market.
While the rental housing vacancy rate fell to 1.7% in Quebec in the fall of 2022 — its lowest rate since 2003 — rent prices have radically increased throughout the province. Including for students, who have seen their individual rent increase by 18% in four years, as highlighted by the Phare 2021 survey conducted by the Work Unit for the Implementation of Student Housing (UTILE).
However, the report highlights the precarious situation of this population: of the 245,000 university students in rental housing in 2021, 62% received $20,000 or less in annual income while 64% allocated 30% or more of their income to their housing. .
They therefore face affordability problems, particularly in the cities which recorded the largest increases in the median individual rent of university tenants, namely Trois-Rivières (24.9%), Quebec (20.5%) and Montreal. (18.9%), but also rare in several regions of the province. “If a person is not able to find accommodation close to their place of study or if this accommodation is too expensive, this can have an impact on the pursuit of their study project, but also on their standard of living », alerts Catherine Bibeau-Lorrain, president of the Quebec Student Union (UEQ). In Montreal, 10% of student tenants share accommodation with three or more bedrooms, UTILE further highlighted in its Éclair survey on student housing in Montreal published in August.
Vicious circle
Another point of vulnerability: the turnover rate of students in accommodation leaves them little control over rising rents, with landlords generally taking advantage of departures to apply exponential increases.
CMHC thus noted in 2022, in Montreal, a 14.5% increase in prices for two-bedroom apartments that welcomed new tenants, compared to 3.5% for those remaining on site. “The student population is perhaps the one that knows the most and best about rent increases on the rental market, because it is transitory and constantly renewing itself,” indicates Laurent Levesque, co-founder and general director of UTILE . The organization reveals that for equal accommodation, student households in Montreal pay 19% to 33% more for their rent than other households.
Constraining for students, this situation also puts pressure on the rental market. In fact, to cover their costs, students tend to share accommodation in accommodation suitable for families. “Even if students’ incomes are low, they can collectively reach amounts that single-parent or lower-income households do not necessarily have the means to pay. This has contributed to the extreme scarcity of larger housing on the market,” underlines Cédric Dussault, co-spokesperson for the Regroupement des committees logement et associations de tenants du Québec (RCLALQ).
Renting to students is all the more advantageous for the owners as their occupation is temporary, which makes them less careful about the maintenance of the premises, also underlines Laurent Levesque. “The student population is very constrained in the neighborhoods where it can settle, that is to say in the neighborhoods accessible to educational establishments. It is a captive audience, which will accept a lack of maintenance all the more as the rental is transient. »
For accommodation reserved for students
Bill 31 proposed by the Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, and whose consultations took place in September, added to students’ concerns. The project plans in particular to deprive tenants of the right to transfer their lease to a third party without the consent of their owner. “This is one of the tools available to the student community to ensure that there will be no unreasonable rent increase when we carry out this type of lease transfer,” underlines Catherine Bibeau-Lorrain.
For some, it is even the only way to obtain accommodation, believes Cédric Dussault, “in particular for foreign students who do not have landlord references here, credit history, nor someone to sign their lease for them.” The RCLALQ is also one of the voices which requested the withdrawal of the article invalidating the transfer of lease to the government.
To protect the student population and relieve market congestion, stakeholders agree on the need to accelerate the construction of student housing. “We must favor a non-profit model to escape the logic of rising rents,” says Laurent Levesque. The director of UTILE, whose core mandate is the development of this type of housing, believes that it is the only solution to capture the growing demand. “Our priority is to work on supply because we will always want a qualified workforce and good access to education, even decades from now. And that involves residential solutions. »
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