Calgary housing headache: Students scramble for spots as campuses reach capacity
Calgary's tight rental market is creeping onto post-secondary campuses, with the city's three biggest institutions completely full for housing, with hundreds on wait lists.
The on-campus residences at University of Calgary, SAIT and Mount Royal University (MRU) are all completely spoken for, leaving some students scrambling for a place to live ahead of the fall 2023 semester.
"This is unprecedented, honestly, in my time at least — and I think since West Residence (at MRU) was built 20 years ago, that we've had to put a waitlist together," said Mark Keller, director of residences services at MRU.
The two residence towers that serve SAIT and the Alberta University of Arts are full with more than a thousand students registered to live there.
About 100 more students are waiting for a possible spot to open up.
"With the competitive rental market in Calgary, we encourage students looking for off-campus accommodation to make sure they are taking appropriate steps to protect themselves," a spokesperson for SAIT wrote in an email.
The University of Calgary is also completely full, with 740 students on the wait list.
A UCalgary spokesperson says it officials are working to try to connect students who need housing with off-campus options.
"We have also placed ads in community newsletters, which will be distributed this month, with the goal of informing Calgarians of the housing shortage impacting our students, and an appeal asking people to consider renting out spare bedrooms," a statement reads.
Officials are also recommending students look at SpacesShared.ca or Places4Students.com, two websites that can connect students with rooms for rent or roommates.
MRU officials say they're hoping to have a better idea of demand by the end of the week and are not ruling out the possibility of considering temporary housing for the enrolled students who don't have a place to stay.
"I think the main driving factor is the rental market in Calgary," said Keller of MRU.
"A lot of students who would be looking maybe to live off-campus are finding it harder to find accommodations off-campus, particularly affordable accommodations.
"We're seeing the normal number of students looking for on-campus housing, as well as a higher number who maybe hadn't considered it initially and are now looking to us as a reasonable accommodation option."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What Michael Cohen said on the stand in Trump hush money case
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.’s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease’s progression.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
Behind the barricades: How protesters spend their first days in a new encampment
Students in Montreal describe life in a newly erected encampment in Montreal as a whirlwind of preparations, from facing rain and a potential police crackdown to setting up a space for the exchange of ideas.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
Canucks' Soucy suspended 1 game, Zadorov fined $5,000 for post-game crosschecks on McDavid
A Vancouver Canucks defenceman has been suspended for a game and another was handed a hefty fine after a scrum broke out at the end of Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night.
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sues for defamation over National Enquirer, InTouch Weekly stories
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sued the parent company of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly on Monday for a story that she said falsely claimed that she was trying to help the Menendez brothers get a retrial after they were convicted of murdering their parents.