TANNARA YELLAN
CUP Prairies & Northern Bureau Chief

(CUP) — Logan Barr made the three-hour drive from his hometown to Saskatoon many times before he finally found a place to live.

The second-year University of Saskatchewan student spent over a month looking for a place to live and though he eventually found what he was looking for at an affordable price, he says it was a difficult search.

“I had to drive to Saskatoon four to five times,” he said.

In most prairie college towns the story is the same. Housing is so scarce that students are scrambling to find somewhere adequate. And with the low number of residence spaces available at many universities, most students have no choice but to venture into the greater city and the uncertain world of real-estate rental to find a place to live.

Vacancy rates in the prairies have been low for some time. Manitoba has the lowest vacancy rate of all the provinces, having increased from 0.8 per cent to one per cent between April 2009 and April 2010.

Brandon, Man., and Regina share the dubious distinction of having among the lowest vacancy rates of Canada’s urban centres. Brandon’s vacancy rate as of April 2010 was 0.2 per cent, while Regina — home to the second largest university in Saskatchewan — had a 0.8 per cent vacancy rate.

Alberta is the exception, with vacancy rates sitting at 6 per cent. However, average rental prices in Alberta remain approximately $150 higher than in Saskatchewan or Manitoba.

All of this is sorry news to the vast majority of post-secondary students in the three provinces. Both the U of S and the University of Manitoba only have enough residence space for less than 10 per cent of their student populations.

The University of Alberta in Edmonton is capable of housing slightly more than 10 per cent of its student population but for the growing number of out-of-town and even out-of-country students, finding a place to live in a city as large as Edmonton can be a daunting task.

One solution to this problem is a program the U of A Indian Students’ Association hit upon. New students can fill out a form on the INDSA website and the group will arrange temporary housing and even airport pick-up for international students.

While the group assists mainly Indian students, some Bangladeshi and Pakistani students have also contacted the group, noted Jignesh Thakkar, the group’s former vice-president of events.

The U of S also has an initiative to help students who either choose not to live in residence or are unable to get a space on campus.

“The U of S Students’ Union housing registry is a great resource,” said Leon Thompson, vice president of student affairs. “People come to us to post their house, we put it online and then renters contact them directly.”

The housing registry’s website has pictures, maps and information about a number of rooms and prices for each rental property.

Even with these initiatives, students like Barr and students contacting Thakkar from overseas face a difficult search for affordable accommodations near their campuses.

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image: Robby Davis