As the fall term gets underway, the Concordia Student Union’s Off Campus Housing & Job Resource Centre (HOJO) is seeing more students with housing troubles than ever.

HOJO Manager Leanne Ashworth says with stiff competition for rental units, students are being asked to provide more and more personal information, and sometimes deposits, before ever stepping foot in apartments. Fraud is becoming a serious problem.

“I think because of the knowledge out there that there is a housing crisis, a lot of different actors are posting false ads online.”

Students are also contending with a genuine housing shortage: even if they raise their budgets, Ashworth says, they still may struggle to find a home.

“There’s just literally not enough places for people to stay, so no amount of money can really increase that.”

It’s not just HOJO noticing the shift – Jeffrey Carter says he and his girlfriend have rented out extra rooms in their apartment for years. During the pandemic, they moved into a condo, but kept subletting their old place and keeping a small profit.

He says the price they charge per room hasn’t changed in that time, but its value on Montreal’s hot housing market has.

“The number of people that contact me to rent a room has just exploded, especially in the last two years.”

“It used to take us days, maybe weeks to find someone… now we could put it up the day of and someone would come to us within an hour.”

Universities often have emergency spots in residence for students whose housing falls through, but they’re typically limited in number and available for only for a short period of time. Faced with growing demand, HOJO is piloting a program offering students transitional housing and part-time work so they don’t end up homeless.

“For these students, it’s just something they have to try to work through,” says Ashworth. “But it’s extremely challenging and it’s hard for them to understand why this is happening.”

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