Some Nova Scotia students are facing a “desperate” situation amid a housing crisis

Victoria Gibbs is used to receiving emails from freshmen excited about their arrival at King’s College Halifax University and what orientation will be like.

But these days, Gibbs’ inbox as student union president is full of “pretty desperate” questions about where they can live.

“I’ve never seen a situation like this in the four years I’ve been at King’s,” Gibbs said on Friday.

She said the current dire situation appears to be due to rising rents mixed with Nova Scotia’s ongoing housing shortage.

When she started at King’s, Gibbs said she crunched the numbers and decided it was cheaper to live off-campus, but that “far” is no longer the case. She said no other student she knows pays less than $700 a month, and it usually takes several roommates to split the cost.

“It’s supposed to be a student town, but more and more it’s becoming so inaccessible, and I’m really wondering who the town is really for anymore,” Gibbs said.

Victoria Gibbs is President of the Royal Students’ Union at the University of King’s College Halifax. (CBC)

With most schools returning to classrooms this year after months of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gibbs said students may have to put their education on hold until they find a place to live.

Last week King’s sent out an urgent request to alumni looking for people to rent extra bedrooms or other accommodation to students.

The email from Katie Merwin, dean of students, said the university’s campus housing is full and they still have 15 freshmen on the waiting list, even after converting many single rooms to doubles.

There are 10 other returning freshmen who also can’t find housing. They have added their names to the residency waiting list, Merwin said.

Another way universities could help is by freezing or reducing tuition costs, which have risen in Nova Scotia during the pandemic, said Chris Repass, president of the Canadian Federation of Students in Nova Scotia.

Chris Repass is the president of the Canadian Federation of Students in Nova Scotia. (Photo by Nicole Lapierre)

Repass said provincial legislation on rent control and a higher minimum wage would go a long way for students.

“Then some people have to participate in unsafe living conditions where there are more people living in one space than they should,” Repas said.

Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) has also asked its alumni to rent additional rooms or pass on apartment tips, particularly for the Yarmouth, Kentville and Truro areas.

Chauncey Kennedy, manager of housing and student life at NSCC, said he has seen student housing issues over the past few years grow into what is now a crisis.

“This is not just an HRM issue. This is a provincial issue,” Kennedy said Friday. “It’s just more expensive to live in Nova Scotia.”

Both King’s and NSCC, as well as other schools, use websites such as Places4students.com for students to connect with people renting rooms. Kennedy also said they are always looking for host families to support international students through the Canadian Host Family Network.

On-campus housing at NSCC’s Strait Area Campus and Nautical Institute in Port Hawkesbury, NSCC (NSCC)

NSCC also has a waiting list for their three on-campus housing facilities, and Kennedy said they are considering temporarily adding more students to those buildings.

Kennedy said three new provincially-funded student housing projects planned for NSCC’s Akerley, Ivany and Pictou campuses are another way to address housing issues, but won’t be ready until 2024 and 2025 at the earliest.

Spokespeople for Dalhousie University and St. Mary’s University (SMU) said Friday that they have not sent emails to alumni seeking student housing assistance this fall.

Cale Lowney, a spokesman for SMU, said that while they have a waiting list for rooms on campus that is “standard” for this time of year, overall applications are down slightly from pre-pandemic years.

Dalhousie spokeswoman Janet Bryson said they don’t currently have a “very large waiting list” for their approximately 2,300 residency beds.