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Though students are among those most affected by the housing crisis, little research focuses on the portrait of student housing in Quebec, according to a report from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).

In the report — “Challenges in student housing in Quebec and elsewhere: a review of the literature” — Nick Revington, assistant professor at the Centre Urbanisation Culture Société of the INRS, conducted a review of current research on student housing in Quebec. The report was produced with the Chaire-réseau de recherche sur la jeunesse du Québec.

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“We didn’t really find much, so we turned to writings from the rest of Canada and internationally to understand the scientific debates around this question in other regions of the world, to see then what we could identify as the most important gaps in Quebec,” Revington said in an interview.

According to him, more research is needed to better understand the issue and find solutions.

Revington said surveys conducted by the Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant (UTILE) are “the best sources of data on students and student housing in Canada” in the absence of actual studies, especially since their data mainly involves Quebec.

“The problem is that it’s difficult to validate UTILE data, because we don’t have other sources of official data that are sufficiently detailed on students, socio-economic and socio-demographic characteristics, students in Quebec and Canada to say :’Yes, the UTILE data is very reliable — or not,’” Revington specified.

He believes the responsibility for developing research on the subject lies not only with researchers, but also with the government, such as the Ministry of Education, which could develop more robust official data on the student population.

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The report Revington participated in suggests some avenues of research that could be explored further.

“We need to better understand the effect of the housing crisis on students, on academic success, on the question of work-family-study balance,” he said, namely whether the housing crisis forces students to work — or work more hours — to be able to pay for their accommodation and what effect that has on academic success.

The professor indicated it could be relevant to question whether some students decide not to continue their education because of the high cost of housing or the fact that it’s hard to find it to begin with. Cohabitation between students from university and college towns with local residents could also be studied.

Research should also look at student housing across the province as opposed to only Montreal.

“The little research that exists in Quebec really focuses on Montreal, so there is also a need to understand the situation outside the metropolis,” Revington said. “The housing crisis does not only affect Montreal, but it affects more or less all university or college towns in Quebec.”

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Exploring existing solutions

For Revington, the issues surrounding student housing mainly concern the private market.

“Almost 70 per cent of university students live in the private rental market,” he said. “In the private market, (there are) questions of affordability, of being able to find housing, there are very low vacancy rates in several university towns in Quebec, and also in towns with CEGEPs.”

He emphasized there’s also a lack of space in university residences, which explains the large proportion of students having to find accommodation on the private rental market.

According to the Revington, certain innovative initiatives are already underway in Quebec, and they deserve to be explored further. He cited UTILE as an example, which works to develop affordable housing for students, often in collaboration with student associations.

The report also highlights residency projects meeting the specific needs of Indigenous students undertaken in Quebec, Trois-Rivières and Sept-Îles, to facilitate their academic success.

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