Quebec student housing advocates hoping to build more affordable units

Many university students in Quebec are struggling to find an affordable place to live.

UTILE, a non-profit student housing advocacy group estimates there are 270,000 students across the province living in rental apartments. But with a limited supply of stock and strong competition from working adults, many students are priced out of the housing market.

“They’re competing for that limited housing stock with families, with other households, and that’s really where the crux is,” said Laurent Levesque, UTILE co-founder.

The non-profit received a $5 million loan, including $1 million from the province and the remainder from the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon. The money will go toward hiring more staff to eventually build more housing units.

The plan is to construct 1,500 units throughout Quebec in the next four years, with more than half slated for Montreal.

“With the 1,500 units we’re working on right now, we will only begin to scratch the surface of the needs for affordable student housing in Quebec,” Levesque said.

Levesque says for decades there was very little construction for student housing and now it’s a rush to catch up, but it’s not easy as demand grows.

“When you look at the apartments right now in Montreal, the majority of them are out of budget for most students,” he said.

The Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, said organizations like UTILE are very beneficial toward reducing the lack of student housing.

“There’s young entrepreneurs that can build projects with minimal amount of grants, we need some government grants or city grants, but then things are going on its own. So I think it’s important as opposed to always relying on government,” Fitzgibbon said.

Levesque is hoping to build more homes so university students can focus more on their grades rather than worrying about trying to find an affordable place to live.