International students and the housing crisis By David Gargaro
According to Sean Fraser, Canada’s Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, the federal government should re-examine its immigration policies due to the impact on the growing housing crisis. In an interview with Global News, Fraser said, “We do need to continue to look at reforms to our temporary residency programs. We’ve seen a significant increase in the numbers of the international student program and the temporary foreign worker program in recent years.” And yet it was Fraser, when he was the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, who oversaw a system that allowed the number of international students entering the country to increase from 350,000 in 2015 to 900,000 in 2023. He was also responsible for plans to increase Canada’s annual target for permanent residents to 500,000 per year. This number is higher than it has been in more than 100 years. So, the federal government (including Fraser) has created the problem that they are now trying to solve. Internal disagreement on government policies The federal government is now examining its approach to immigration in an effort to address the housing crisis. The current immigration minister, Marc Miller, stated the rising number of international students may be contributing to the housing crunch. While immigrants are not solely to blame for the lack of affordable housing, the volume of immigration (including international students) affects the amount of housing available. Failing to increase the housing supply, as well as the necessary infrastructures, to support the high number of international students will continue to strain resources and increase housing prices. There is a disconnect between the federal and provincial governments with respect to international students. The federal government is responsible for issuing study permits, so they control how many international students can come to Canada. However, education is a provincial power, and the provinces determine how many students they can accommodate.
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Canada has long depended on international students and temporary workers to help boost the economy and fill job vacancies. According to the federal government, international students contribute more than $22.3 billion to the Canadian economy every year. They are a source of talent that can support economic growth and offset our aging demographic. But bringing in more students does not necessarily increase the quality of the workforce. Canada can achieve its economic goals by reducing the number of international students to more manageable levels and focusing on people whose skills sets meet the country’s more immediate needs.
Colleges benefit but not students Colleges and universities across Canada (especially Ontario) do not want a cap on the number of international students for financial reasons. They pay much higher tuition rates than Canadian students – sometimes three to fives
times more. More international students means more revenues for colleges and universities. It does not help that private colleges and “diploma mills” are taking advantage of the system and international students. Decreasing the number of international students will solve that problem. There are more and more stories of international students sleeping in tents, in vehicles, under bridges, and on the street because they cannot find affordable housing. Some students are sharing accommodations with eight to ten people in rooms or units designed to house only two or three people at most. They are already spending more on tuition and cannot afford market rents – even when it’s available. Now they are being victimized through price gouging, illegal living conditions, invasion of privacy, and worse.
Not enough housing for all Colleges and universities recognize there is not enough housing to accommodate the high volume of international students. You cannot add 900,000 new students each year and expect postsecondary institutions to be able to house them. Some universities have added new residences to handle the influx of international students, but they require support to build more units or have access to more housing options off-campus. They cannot meet the housing demand created by international students on their own.
Again, it must be restated: there is not enough housing being built to meet the needs of 900,000 new international students, as well as Canadians who currently need housing. Canada’s population has outpaced the rate of homebuilding. According to Statistics Canada, fewer homes were built in 2022 (219,942) than were built in 1972 (232,227). It is estimated that we will need another 3.5 million homes by 2030 for the housing supply to meet demand. At the current rate, we will fall dreadfully short.
Conclusion The federal government has created a problem that it understands it must correct. We are allowing more international students to enter Canada than we can handle given the current housing shortage. The federal government is finally taking action: as of January 22, they have imposed a two-year cap on international student undergraduate study permits. International students are not to blame for the lack of affordable housing, but the volume of immigration is making the situation worse. Unless the federal government also devises a way to rapidly increase the number of housing units, then the affordable housing shortage will get much worse before it gets better.
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