Canada's Housing Crisis Blamed on International Students

Canadian cities like Vancouver don't have enough housing

Canada is experiencing a serious housing crisis. There is not enough housing being built, and what housing stock is available is only for those who have deep pockets, leaving many scrambling to find whatever they can rent, and nowadays it's half their paycheque. 

In Vancouver it now costs CAD$3,000 to rent a one-bedroom apartment.

On top of that the Canadian government wants to have 500,000 immigrants settling in the country every year. They need housing too. Again, where is that going to come from?

Fraser says foreign students cause housing shortage

So who does Housing Minister Sean Fraser blame for causing housing to be out of reach? 

International students. 

He recently floated the idea of capping the number of international students coming to Canada to study, much to the shock of universities, which depend on foreign students to subsidise tertiary education across the country.

Fraser said the cap on international students is "one of the options we ought to consider" during a cabinet retreat in Prince Edward Island last week.

This year Canada is expected to host some 900,000 international students, more than any point in the country's history, and about triple the number of students who entered the country a decade ago. 

But surely Fraser is barking up the wrong tree because it's not like international students are snapping up CAD$1 million homes and taking them away from local residents.

International students have told the media they find it harder than their Canadian counterparts to find housing because landlords conduct extensive credit checks and as foreign students they have never rented or worked in the country before let alone rented in their home countries and so they lack credentials.

Some 900,000 foreign students expected this year

The National Association of Career Colleges said in a statement that "regulated career college provide efficient, high-quality, industry-driven training for domestic and international students to produce the skilled workers Canada most desperately needs," and added that includes workers in the construction sector that builds housing.

Interim president and CEO of Universities Canada Philip Landon also disagreed with the cap, saying major universities are solving the problem.

"I think we can say that the housing situation is a crisis for Canadians broadly," he said. "I do not think that the blaming newcomers or international students... is the right way to go."

Blaming international students for the housing crisis is laughable because it's completely untrue. It just creates xenophobia when Canada is known to be a welcoming place for everyone. It's also a lame excuse to get citizens to look the other way when all three levels of government should be working together to solve this housing crisis.