Returning VIU students are looking for places to live with record low vacancy in the Nanaimo rental market and a surge in new students coming to the Island. (VIU)

By Alex Rawnsley

beds needed

‘The floodgates are open:’ influx of VIU students struggling to find places to live in Nanaimo

Aug 23, 2022 | 5:33 AM

NANAIMO — There is a flood of students from around the world coming soon, but many are still without a place to live.

Arriving Vancouver Island University students are adding to an already challenging rental market in Nanaimo with few available properties and high demand becoming further stressed by the back-to-school crunch.

Michael Witcomb, VIU’s new off-campus housing coordinator, said Nanaimo isn’t alone with universities in the United States, Europe and Australia all seeing similar challenges.

“These are all really popular destinations for international students. With the last couple of years keeping everybody back at home under lockdowns, suddenly the floodgates are open and people who have been waiting to come aboard to study are seeing that opportunity.”

A tsunami of student movement is being paired with landlords who pulled their rentals or otherwise converted their spaces during a pandemic where little, if any, international student travel occurred.

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Now, students are competing with historically low vacancy rates and skyrocketing prices and demand.

In many cases, those looking for a shorter-term rental don’t even hear back from a landlord because it’s lost in the 50-70 applications some places receive a day, according to Witcomb.

It’s forcing him and others at the university to put in place multiple plans to try and ensure their incoming students are taken care of.

On-campus housing is already full, with roughly 540 beds taken and a sizeable waitlist.

Witcomb told NanaimoNewsNOW they’ve been talking with local hotels to get preferred, month-long rates for students and are now appealing to anyone with a spare room to rent. Some other, more “drastic” plans are also in the works, but hopefully not needed.

“(I’m) drumming up any rooms, any beds we can with people who may have not thought beforehand they were interested in renting to students, but now with the economy and inflation being what it is, it might be occurring to people it’s a really good idea and a great way to bring some extra income.”

Witcomb and VIU act as facilitators, simply connecting students in need with rooms on offer. The university doesn’t contribute financially to these arrangements, outside of their existing scholarship structure.

While most students are needing a place for eight to nine months beginning in September, some are only here for a semester.

Students enrolled in the school’s education abroad program will be gone by Christmas.

Aside from trying to drum up a place for students to stay, the one-year pilot position Witcomb currently occupies also serves as a mediator for issues between landlords and tenants.

He said he can help tenants with their application process, check over contracts for students and also work with students who are not meeting what’s expected of them by their landlords or roommates.

“I get a lot of international students forwarding me contracts, and saying ‘is this right? Does it look okay?’ I’m there to support them through that part as well and I can advocate for them and step in to chat with landlords if necessary.”

Anyone with a room to rent, or who want to find out more information, can contact Witcomb at housing@viu.ca.

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