This is a big week for many families who are dropping their kids off at university. They’re packing boxes and pulling up to dorms and apartments across the country. It’s a stressful, exciting time. But for this university-bound cohort, there’s an added layer of stress: the housing crunch. With infinitesimal vacancy rates and skyrocketing rents, many students have had a terrible time finding a place to live. University administrators say they’re seeing an increase in the number of returning students who want to live on campus and, alarmingly, some students are starting the school year homeless, couch surfing and sleeping in their cars.
Eric Cimic, a student from Pickering, Ontario, who’s in law school at the University of New Brunswick, told Maclean’s about his harrowing apartment hunt. He spent last summer trying to find a place in Fredericton, looking at 150 places online and sending roughly 50 inquiries. He finally found an apartment he could afford, but when he arrived in person to see his new place, it was not what he expected. Cimic’s story is typical of what young adults are experiencing across the country. “Every time I saw something I liked and put in an inquiry, someone else beat me to it,” he told Maclean’s. “The market was tight.”
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
