How Saskatchewan’s rental housing shortage is affecting students

Saskatchewan is facing a housing supply issue, with some experts saying if no new homes are added to the market, supply will run out in one and a half months.

This issue is affecting everyone, including students.

“For the university crowd and the Sask Polytech crowd that are coming back looking for student housing, I’m really hopeful that they secured that housing prior to their departure, at the end of April, early May, because it’s going to be a grind out there to find good, suitable housing,” said Cameron Choquette, the Saskatchewan Landlord Association’s CEO.

With the housing supply so low in the province, Choquette said that while residence at school is a great option, if that does not work out, there likely won’t be much choice on where students can live.

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The University of Saskatchewan said in a statement to Global News that “USask residence has received a higher number of applications over the past two years and is currently at 100 per cent occupancy.”

“USask’s McEown park residences house 600 students and represent the most affordable student housing in Canada.”

The University of Regina said it is experiencing about 60 to 70 more applications a year for residence but luckily, it has the space.

“We have dorms and we have apartments. And, we are still able to accommodate more applications,” said Bettina Welsh, U of R director of ancillaries and finance for student affairs. “We have the luxury in Regina to have a lot of space in the community and on campus.”

The U of R added that in the fall, it anticipates about 100 students living on campus, which is just under 10 per cent of students.

The University of Saskatchewan added that even though its occupancy is at 100 per cent, it still encourages students to apply and get on the wait-list because occupancy for living on campus can change throughout the year for a variety of reasons.

USask said if a student is feeling overwhelmed or stressed about finding housing to reach out to their school. The schools may be able to connect you with a school counsellor or a social worker to help.