Post-secondary students face stiff competition but don’t struggle for housing

The start of the school year is almost here and, for many university students, that means finding housing as well as buying books.

In places like Vancouver, finding accommodations can be a scramble but things are a little easier in Prince George.

“The majority of students that are interested in living on campus at UNBC are able to find a place in our residence buildings,” says UNBC Undergraduate Student Society President Arctica Cunningham. “This year, the two buildings are at capacity but they just reached capacity in the past week. We also have a lot of students that choose to live off campus and I think there’s a really good variety of housing available to those students.”

Linda Stacey is a licensed Property Manager with MaxSave Real Estate Service. She says they do see an uptick in inquiries from students in August.

“Students that are coming to town – it can be really difficult for them. I have no problems renting to students and neither do a lot of my owners but they need to qualify just like everybody else. We’ve even gone so far as to have family members co-sign for them.”

Stacey says it’s easier for returning students.

“Students that know Prince George don’t seem to have a problem because they know where to go. We don’t have a problem renting to students – most of them are longer term [tenants.]”

She says some property managers will offer reduced rents to student tenants who leave town during the summer if they’ve proven to be reliable tenants.

There can be other perks as well.

“We have a list and if we have places coming up that are suitable for those particular students, we will place them. So a lot of our places don’t even get advertised.”

“There’s very few students that we hear of in the Student Union Office saying that they’re really struggling to find housing for themselves,” says Cunningham. “Prince George compared to Vancouver – it’s just no contest. You can find a place to rent, sharing with a few people, for $500 a month or less.”

In Vancouver, off campus rents can run anywhere from $600 – $1100 a month for a shared space.

This year nearly 6,000 UBC students are scrambling for housing in a city that’s rental vacancy rate is below 1%.