Canada Housing Crisis For International Students - What's Our Opinion - Global Bridge Education Placement Services

September 19, 2023

Canada Housing Crisis For International Students – What’s Our Opinion

By Filipino-Canadian Today

Recently, there’s been a number of articles highlighting the housing situation in Canada.

While the data shows that Canada is facing a housing crisis, there are many contributors to the situation.

We asked Sol Abel Pagaling, the CEO of GBE for input on the situation. Here’s what he said.

FCT: Is Canada going to stop or limit the international student program?

Sol: I’m in the opinion that the Canadian government cannot just turn off the tap on one of the most successful immigration programs we have in Canada. Canada gets to attract the best, brightest, and motivated people around the world through this program. And for the students, coming to Canada is a way for them to pursue their career and have a better life.”

FCT: But how about the housing shortage? There seems to be a lot of fingers being pointed at international students.

Sol: It’s easy to point at the international students. It’s an easy scapegoat to the bigger housing problems we have in Canada. International students are a win for us. And we have a really good program for international students and it’s working well. Why else would over 800 thousand of them flock to our country?

FCT: So what are the problems other than the international students?

Sol: It’s our government housing policies we need to fix. For one, we need to regulate the short-term rental industry like AirBnB. Homeowners are choosing to convert their houses into AirBnB’s, and this is taking away available housing for students.

Second, we need to regulate where international students can go. Too many students are concentrated in certain areas, like Toronto for example, while we have schools all over Canada that have more capacity to take in and house international students.

Third, we need to create more housing for our seniors so that they can leave their property and move into assisted apartments or housing for seniors. This will free up more housing that can be used to rent out to international students.

Lastly, according to the Financial Post, 20% of housing and 40% of condos are owned by investors. This was back in February. It’s probably more now. This means less available housing for actual homeowners who could rent out their basement or a room to international students.

So you see, I don’t think we need to be blaming international students for the housing crunch.

FCT: What do you recommend?

Sol: Encourage more international students to come to Canada and use government policies to accommodate them or provide them with housing. It’s about investing in their future, so they can invest in ours.