Int’l student cap not off the table in Canada amid housing crisis
Published 23/08/2023
Canada could limit the number of international students it welcomes in a bid to ease housing pressures, the country’s housing minister has indicated.
On August 21, Canada’s new housing minister Sean Fraser was asked if a government-imposed cap on international students could be put in place as a solution to the country’s housing crisis.
“I think that is one of the options that we ought to consider but I think we should start by trying to partner with institutions to understand what role they may play to reduce the pressure on the communities that they are operating within,” he replied.
He continued by saying that the government has not made a decision on the matter.
Fraser’s comments were made during the August 21-23 cabinet retreat on Prince Edward Island, during which the main focus of discussion was expected to be on the country’s housing crisis.
In 2022, the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation estimated that to restore affordability, an additional 3.5 million affordable housing units are needed by 2030 on top of the 2.3 million units already projected under current rates of new construction.
“The cost and supply of housing is a huge issue in Canada,” Randall Martin, executive director, British Columbia Council for International Education told The PIE.
He highlighted that the MTV corridor – Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver – is particularly impacted.
“In the face of unprecedented new immigrant numbers as well as temporary foreign workers, and for the sake of these incoming international students, not to mention and importantly for local communities and the Canadian populace, there does need to be some way to address the issue,” continued Martin.
Fraser became minister of housing, infrastructure and communities in July 2023 amid a ministry reshuffle and previously served as minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.
“Fraser knows the international student sector well, and he has been a huge booster in his previous immigration portfolio, but he is reasonably new in his portfolio… and this public statement may merely be a shot across the bow to providers and the sector to get their ‘houses’ in order,” said Martin.
“A global cap on incoming numbers to Canada might be difficult to coordinate or enforce.”
“A global cap on incoming numbers to Canada might be difficult to coordinate or enforce”
During the retreat, Fraser further commented on some universities’ capacity for enrolled students.
“When you see some of these institutions that have five, six times as many students enrolled as they have spaces for them in the building… you’ve got to start to ask yourself some pretty tough questions,” said Fraser.
According to Martin, provinces spend well on building student dorms and increasing bed numbers on campuses for the public institutions, especially in British Columbia.
“But it is the exponential and unchecked growth of international students in the private institutions, which may have a housing office but which rarely have dedicated beds or housing and are quite visibly impacting housing availability in cities like Brampton or Surrey,” he said.
On the same day as Fraser’s remarks, prime minister Justin Trudeau defended Canada’s immigration policies while discussing affordable housing to press during the retreat.
“Yes, there’s much more we need to do on housing, and we’re continuing to step up with record investments and partnerships with municipalities and provinces,” said Trudeau.
“But we’re going to continue to be the open, welcoming, prosperous and growing country we’ve always been because that has been something that has led to great opportunities and prosperity for all Canadians.”
Canada hosted over 800,000 international students in 2022 – an increase of almost a third in one year, according to government data.
Megan Berretta, vice-president for student affairs, Swenam College, responded to the news of a possible cap on international student numbers in a LinkedIn post, urging government to “think outside the box”.
“Let’s be realistic here, those 800,000 international students poured into our country at least CAN$12 billion last year in the form of tuition alone, helping many institutions hire more people and so on,” she wrote.
“The solution is to have solid and real regulations on short-term rentals, fully ban strata from controlling rentals in buildings, and remove any restrictions on families that can rent one room in their rented house to students. These points alone can solve a huge percentage of the problem.
“In addition, speed up the process to get permits to build new homes and buildings, it takes a very long time to process these permits,” she said.
“The moment we make sure nothing remains under processing forever, is when we start having real solutions to all of our problems in Canada.”
Mike Poritt, vice president, international at the Scion Group which owns and operates off-campus student housing, also took to LinkedIn to react to Fraser’s comments.
“If we cut or cap international students our higher education system will be hurt badly as will our work force. The solution is not cutting their numbers,” Porritt said.
“We need a plan now – and we can put up housing fast using different techniques and technologies.”
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