Vancouver City Council to explore policies that catalyze student housing

The 2023-built GEC King Edward student housing building near SkyTrain King Edward Station in Vancouver. (GEC)

Currently, the City of Vancouver has no policy in the toolbox to potentially catalyze the creation of student housing as a typology of secured purpose-built rental housing.

Post-secondary students account for a significant portion of the demand for both secured and unsecured rental housing, especially on-campus and near off-campus areas.

For this reason, ABC Vancouver city councillor Lisa Dominato is looking to direct City staff to report back to Vancouver City Council with potential policy options to enable more purpose-built student housing projects. This could include a range of policy levers such as housing covenants and affiliations with public or accredited post-secondary institutions.

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In September 2022, the on-campus student housing waitlist at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) reached 8,000 students, with much of this demand then spilling out into the general rental housing market within the City of Vancouver, especially areas close to campus and/or near public transit. UBC’s waitlist at the start of the current school year in September 2023 was likely even higher than the previous year due to the further deterioration of the rental housing market.

The unaffordable housing options for students also leads to financial stress and academic performance impacts.

“Purpose-built student housing on and off campus has proven to be an affordable option for many academic institutions such as University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and University of Victoria,” reads the member motion by Dominato.

“Purpose-built student housing enhances the overall academic experience while fostering a sense of community and positively impacting student retention and success rates. Additionally, it will help to reduce existing pressures on the general Vancouver housing market.”

brock commons north south ubc august 12 2023

UBC’s Brock Commons North (left) and the Arts Student Centre and Brock Commons South (right), as of August 12, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

UBC’s Brock Commons North (right) and Brock Commons South (left), as of August 12, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

According to Dominato, it is within the City of Vancouver’s powers under the provincial government’s Vancouver Charter to “enable and actively promote” the development of secured purpose-built affordable student housing projects.

“Ultimately, it hinders our city’s potential for cultivating and attracting talent and fostering innovation,” she added.

As well, Dominato would like City staff to provide an update on such a strategy as part of the Housing Targets Refresh/Three-Year Action Plan in the second quarter of 2024.

The motion is expected to see approval next week.

This past summer, UBC told Daily Hive Urbanized they are unable to keep up with the required pace of new on-campus student housing supply to meet the strong, growing demand, which is also driven by the greater enrolment of international students.

According to one previous estimate, there was a shortage of 14,300 student beds in Metro Vancouver in 2019.

Over the last 12 years, UBC built a combined total of 5,550 new student residence beds at its Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. The university has plans to build an additional 4,800 new student residence beds, including 4,300 in the Vancouver campus, over the next 10 to 15 years at a cost of $1.4 billion.

In August 2023, UBC opened a new second building for its Brock Commons student residence complex, adding 316 beds. In Spring 2024, an additional 282 beds will open when the third and final building of the complex reaches completion.

In addition to public institutions building and operating student housing, there are also private operators. Over the past decade, Global Education Communities Corporation (GECC), previously known as CIBT Education Group, has grown into one of British Columbia’s single largest developers and operators of purpose-built, off-campus student housing.

Within Metro Vancouver, in terms of the size of overall student housing operations, they are just behind UBC and Simon Fraser University. GECC is also known for owning Sprott Shaw College and Sprott Shaw Language College.

gec king edward student housing 431 west king edward avenue vancouver

The 2023-built GEC King Edward student housing building near SkyTrain King Edward Station in Vancouver. (GEC)

gec king edward student housing 431 west king edward avenue vancouver f

The 2023-built GEC King Edward student housing building near SkyTrain King Edward Station in Vancouver. (GEC)

Artistic rendering of GEC Oakridge at 441-475 West 42nd Avenue, Vancouver. (Urban Solutions Architecture/CIBT Education Group Inc.)

GECC has 1,500 student housing beds in buildings they own within downtown Vancouver and near SkyTrain stations on the Cambie Corridor, including the 2023-built GEC King Edward building with 188 beds near King Edward Station.

In early 2021, the previous makeup of City Council approved GECC’s rezoning application to build an 18-storey secured rental housing tower with 124 units, which will be configured into spaces for 475 student housing beds. This project, GEC Oakridge, is located just east of SkyTrain Oakridge-41st Avenue Station and Oakridge Park (Oakridge Centre) mall.

In addition to owning and building new purpose-built student housing buildings, they are now also looking to expand their business into leasing newly completed market rental buildings — potentially creating as many as 800 student beds in 2024 under such a master-lease business model.

The provincial government has set aside $1 billion in funding towards catalyzing new student housing, which has prompted post-secondary institutions to pursue their own on-campus student housing projects.

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