Low rental vacancy rate affecting Peterborough student housing market

Peterborough’s vacancy rate for rentals is 1 per cent. For students living off-campus, finding an apartment or room could be difficult.

“I hear more concerns about availability and certain amenities they need versus the cost of places,” said Brandon Remmelgas, president of Trent Central Student Association (TCSA). “Usually students can find stuff that’s affordable. But what a student finds versus what they actually need is a different conversation.”

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Move-in day for students living on-campus at residence is Sunday.  Residence is geared for first-year students.  After first year, most need to find accommodations off campus.

Those students can visit the university’s website and search available listings on the housing page.  As of Tuesday morning, there were 35 listings. Most were rooms.

“As housing prices go up (in Peterborough), fewer people are going from renting to buying and that creates a crunch,” said Nona Robinson, associate vice-president of students in the Office of Student Affairs at Trent. “Certainly the low rent vacancy rate is a concern, not only for us Trent folks, but the community as a whole.”

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In addition to the website, students can communicate with each other about housing through the Trent Students app.

The TCSA is also looking to help out especially with students needing to look earlier in the year for living arrangements for September.

“We’re going to educate students on what their rights are as tenants and navigate those rights.  We see these stresses in students especially when they grab places at the last minute,” added Remmelgas.

Classes for undergraduate students begin on Sept. 6, while the rest of classes start on Sept. 10.