Rental price gouging plaguing UBC students desperate for housing
UBC students are calling on the university to respond to the chaotic and competitive rental search by building more housing and creating a price ceiling for on-campus sublets.
Finding housing for the past couple months has been disheartening for many students returning to school this fall.
It’s not unusual for the housing demand to go up before September rolls around since a significant number of students are returning from their summer break. However, students say each year it’s becoming more and more stressful to find a place to live — on or off campus.
Students like Bobo Wong tell Daily Hive Urbanized they’ve been searching since May. Wong used listing sites associated with UBC and searched through sites like Zumper, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace.
Out of about 70 applications, she says she’s heard back from only about 10 and many say they’re no longer accepting inquiries because they’ve been slammed with responses.
Other units are simply snatched up quickly within a few hours, and some raise prices after they realize the desperate demand, Wong says.
In one case, she says she applied for a $1,300 studio unit sublet at UBC but received a response saying they increased the price to $1,800 because they received competitive offers.
…at this point, people are profiting off their ubc housing offers? and honestly it wouldn’t be so egregious if it was just a small profit margin of maybe $100-$150, but making a $400 profit on a $900 room is a near 50% upcharge, which shouldn’t be acceptable imo
— Bobo (she/her/elle) (@bobosyw) August 8, 2022
Oliver South experienced a similar interaction when he wanted to sublet a bedroom from another student at Ponderosa Commons: Oak House.
In response to his inquiry, he says the student essentially tried to capitalize on the situation by raising the price due to the high demand.
The student received a $1,750 competing offer, and South lost out. According to UBC Housing, a bedroom in a four-bedroom on-campus unit cost about $965 a month.
“It’s really crazy how much demand … I’ve gotten 100 messages since I posted this ad,” the response to South reads. “I know it’s way above the price but it seems like people are willing to pay that much and it’s hard for me to say no to that. So yes, that’s the current offer I have if you wanna beat that.”
This is for a room that UBC housing rents for ~$900 pic.twitter.com/rVVjfGrI4v
— Oliver South (@oliversouth_) August 7, 2022
South says he does not blame the student.
“A lot of people would find it hard to say no to [an extra] 800 bucks a month,” he said.
Wong says she can also understand how earning a profit is hard to turn down since it can go towards expenses like tuition, but says, “I think at the end of the day, the problem is much more structural.”
“If there was a way that people were not able to profit from these contracts in the first place, so they wouldn’t consider receiving these offers or wouldn’t be able to take these offers without potential consequences, I think that’s really the only way to stop it in its tracks. I don’t think we can reasonably expect everyone who is receiving these really high offers and essentially being guaranteed a profit of over 50%… to turn them down.”
This post currently going viral on UBC housing forums. I really don't think policy makers understand just how bad the market is. Hundreds of exchange and international students won't be able to attend UBC this year because of the housing shortage. pic.twitter.com/s5ZAtvD2Av
— Oliver South (@oliversouth_) August 7, 2022
UBC Student Housing and Community Services (SHCS) offers housing that is below the market rate. So what frustrates Wong the most is how people are struggling to pay hundreds extra from subsidized housing while contract holders walk away with a profit.
“It’s actually quite shocking to me that [UBC] haven’t implemented any kind of price ceiling.”
In an email statement to Daily Hive Urbanized, UBC says it allows students to sublet their units most often during the summer months. Fewer sublets are approved for the academic year.
It says contract holders and the sublessee must meet specific eligibility requirements.
“Contract holders create their own subletting agreements with sublessees, including agreeing on the amount of rent. As UBC is not a party to those agreements, we are not in a position to enforce limits on whether rents are below or above the room rate we charge the contract holder.”
I have guaranteed housing for first year, but for next year I’m genuinely concerned if I’ll be able to afford the off campus rent.
— Mahmood Badr (@mahmoodabadr) August 8, 2022
When possible, UBC says its SHCS staff monitor social media for unauthorized sublets and investigate listings brought to its attention. The university also has resources to advise students interested in subletting.
Students are able to apply for housing directly through UBC, but the applicant list is long. There is a waitlist, which South is on, but he says he has little hope it will pan out.
Off-campus searches are not any easier
Rajinder Tuli is a parent to a second-year international university student. He and his daughter have been searching for a place for eight months. And he says he’s sent dozens of inquiries a day.
After months of navigating through rejections, unsuccessful negotiations, and frequent scams, on Monday, he was able to find a one-bedroom basement suite which is a 15-minute bus ride away, for $2,200 and an additional $135 a month for utilities and heating.
He says the only reason he was successful this time around was because he did not negotiate.
“They asked me for this money and I said, “Okay, fine. I’ll pay.'”
Tuli says he will still keep an eye out for cheaper rentals, but if he does not find one in a few days, he will have to finalize the deal.
South, who is completing his exchange program in the UK, says it’s been particularly difficult for exchange and international students who are so desperate for housing they are willing to pay anything.
However, even if people have the cash, he says “[enough] apartments don’t exist.”
Every bachelor apartment I’ve listed for sale at UBC in the past 18 months has received a number of offers from lovely local families desperate for student housing. They had all failed to find a rental for many months before buying.
— Simon Clayton PREC* (@604realtor) August 8, 2022
South says the problem lies with the university who should be building more housing.
UBC told Daily Hive Urbanized that it recognizes the housing and rental market in Vancouver is a challenge for students, staff, and faculty. So the university is working to meet that challenge.
Over $634 million has been invested in new student housing developments since 2011, adding 5,555 new beds to campuses.
“UBC has more on-campus housing than any university in Canada and is among the top student residence providers in North America with more than 15,000 beds on both campuses as of spring 2022,” UBC said. “The Vancouver campus has 13,217 beds and the Okanagan campus has 2,120 beds.”
Still, South says, “there’s just not enough on-campus housing.”
“I think they’re building a lot compared to other universities. But because we’re surrounded by this area of low-density housing and it’s not allowed to build apartments there… UBC has to fill that gap.”
While policymakers may understand there is a housing crisis, South says they do not understand the scale of the problem.
He says politicians are simply lacking urgency.
Rhetoric that blames international students “is dangerous”
When housing dries up, Wong says she’s noticed international students face backlash as locals blame the group for buying out the housing and contributing to a harder search for local students.
“I think that rhetoric is dangerous,” she said. “Because obviously, we don’t want to push the narrative that international students are just stealing all the housing because that’s not true. They’re also struggling in their search for housing.”
Tuli says the pricy tuition, education student receives here, and the frustrating housing search, has made him question if the university was the right fit for his daughter.
“We have made a bad decision by coming to UBC,” he said.
“We are really frustrated with this situation… we didn’t expect UBC to be so unprofessional in dealing with this issue. They know they don’t have enough housing and they leave their students to sleep on the streets. They don’t care. And we are paying them through the nose.”
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