The cost of rent in Canada has risen 5.2 per cent since October 2024, well above the overall inflation rate of 2.2 per cent, Capital Current’s analysis of data Statistics Canada data shows.
That is hard to manage for anyone who rents but for university students it can been very difficult. For this cohort, low-cost, short-term rental units are vital.
The current lack of affordable accommodation has prompted the Carleton University Students’ Association to prepare and issue a report that called for more accessible housing for university students this past October.
It’s something Aidan Kallioinen, the vice president of student issues for CUSA, understands well. Kallioinen doesn’t even live in Ottawa to avoid high rent prices.
“I live over the river in Hull, just as a matter of saving money because land values are cheaper and rents tend to be a bit cheaper.”
Another major consideration for students looking for a place to live is their commute to campus as about 70 per cent of Carleton students, for example, use public transit daily.
“Transit is the number one consideration they’re making when they’re looking at apartments, because 72 or 75 per cent of our students, something in that ballpark, use public transit as their primary means of good to campus. It’s a very high utilization rate,” Kallioinen said.
In comparison to owned property, rents have been increasing at a faster rate, disproportionately affecting those who cannot buy homes.
Third-year Carleton engineering student Rodney Oghinan knows all about the price of rent. Until recently, his share of rent in a four-bedroom unit in The Revalie, a student housing building, was $1,250 a month including utilities. He told Capital Current he had landed at The Revalie, after a fruitless search for accommodation elsewhere.
“The rent at Revalie definitely cut back the amount of cash I had in hand,” he said.
Students are settling for more affordable options but we are cutting down our priorities like safety for not very good houses
Rodney Oghinan, Carleton University student
Rent at The Revalie increases yearly and 2025-26 continues the trend, he says, up $50 more.
For him, the increase has meant moving out and into an apartment building that caters to students on Champagne Avenue South.
He says finding affordable housing for students is a “stressful” process.
“It can be way more affordable than it is, us students are settling for more affordable options but we are cutting down our priorities like safety for not very good houses,” Oghinan said.
In Ontario, the price of rent is up 4.5 per cent a year. For owned accommodations in Ontario, the consumer price index shows that prices have fallen 6.6 per cent, according to Capital Current’s analysis of data Statistics Canada uses to track the price of goods and services.
Mary Feltham, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), says all students are experiencing housing insecurity but international, Indigenous and mature students are affected the most. The CFS is the largest and oldest student union in Canada, representing over half a million students across 60 institutions.
“There’s been an ongoing concern about finding spaces that are affordable,” she said.
Feltham says the federal government should focus on a program for non-profit housing for students and new graduates.
Feltham said she believes students should not have to compromise their needs by, for example, turning living rooms into bedrooms to share the cost of rent with more roommates.
“There was a time I stayed at a rental accommodation house for students,” she said about her own experience. “It was three bedrooms, and there were five of us living there.”
There’s a lot more people creating demand at the low rent levels. We really do run a risk of the lower end of the stock, which is the more affordable part, rapidly eroding.
Steve Pomery, Focus Consulting Inc.
Steve Pomeroy, an independent policy research consultant at Focus Consulting Inc. who focuses on urban planning, said the kind of lower-cost units typically rented by students cost more than expensive high-rise units.
“There’s a lot more people creating demand at the low rent levels,” Pomeroy said. “We really do run a risk of the lower end of the stock, which is the more affordable part, rapidly eroding.”
For their part, landlords say they struggled during the pandemic, so current demand and price hikes have allowed them to make up for the impact of COVID-19 financially.
Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization chair, John Dickie, said costs for landlords rose 15 to 20 per cent during the pandemic in large part because the provincial government froze rents. As a result, landlords struggled to make a profit, he said.
During the pandemic, many students stayed with family and took classes online, which led to lower demand, Dickie said.
At the same time, he said, the federal government opened the door to an increase in immigration to fill critical jobs. When the crisis ended, university students returned to the rental market, creating intense demand for rental properties, allowing landlords to raise prices.
For Steve Pomeroy, the one-year freeze on rent should not still be affecting the cost of renting.
“I don’t think that’s a legitimate excuse,” Pomeroy said. “They’ve been in the competitive market, they’ve been able to push their rent up, and people have to live somewhere.”
