B.C. ELECTION: ABCS Hope to See Results in Next Provincial Government

Student housing is one of the most important election issues amongst student voters
Joseph Keller, Web Editor

One issue that’s on many students’ minds this election is the issue of student housing in B.C.

The Kwantlen Student Association, as part of the Alliance of B.C. Students (ABCS), has been active for the past several months lobbying the provincial government to remove the red tape preventing institutions in from building on-campus housing for their students. Now, as election day draws near, the major parties have made their promises in their platforms for how they will respond to this student pressure.

The Lower Mainland rental market is not friendly to post secondary students. The KSA’s VP Student Affairs Caitlin McCutchen says that the vacancy rate should be at about two to three per cent, but is currently sitting at less than one per cent. Some major post-secondary institutions in the province, such as KPU, currently offer no student housing. This drives up rent prices and often forces students to live in less-than-ideal circumstances far away from campus.

McCutchen says that new student housing for universities in the Lower Mainland is needed to get students out of the mercy of the rental market.

“I think we can all agree that there is a housing shortage in the Lower Mainland,” says McCutchen. “People are living farther and farther away from campus, so you’re adding commute time, you’re living in situations that aren’t stable or efficient. Illegal basement suites, or having five or six people in a tiny apartment. And this isn’t good for students. It’s not healthy mentally.”

Over the past 10 years no new student housing has been built in the Lower Mainland by any institution other than UBC. This is because, under the current rules, provincial post-secondary institutions are unable to take on debt to build the facilities, as doing so might negatively impact the province’s credit rating.

The ABCS argues that any debt run up from the building of the facilities would be mitigated over a matter of years by residence fees generated by the facilities.

The ABCS campaign calls for 20,000 student housing units for institutions across the province, which would include housing for KPU students. Also, through their “Where’s the Housing” campaign the group was able to get signatures in support from 1000 students.

In October last year, representatives of the ABCS, including some from the KSA, traveled to Victoria for a demonstration outside of the B.C. Legislature. At the demonstration, officials from the B.C. Green Party and B.C. NDP came out to voice their support for the initiative. No representatives from the B.C. Liberals came out, but ABCS representatives were granted a meeting with Liberal Minister of Advanced Education Andrew Wilkinson.

“Essentially we have been asking for [the provincial government] to remove the red tape so that we can build the housing without a cost to them,” says McCutchen.

In response to the ABCS push, all of the major parties have promised to add student housing to their platforms. However, the current version of the Green Party platform makes no mention of student housing. The NDP has pledged in their platform to remove barriers to building student housing, and the Liberals have made similar promises while remaining firm on the stipulation that the project may not affect the provincial credit rating.

“All of the parties are addressing it. As far as how students want to vote, they need to make their own informed decision,” says McCutchen. “My advice would be to read the platforms and keep this in mind.”