538 replies to this topic

[tjv]

UVic funding announcement tomorrow on plans referenced earlier this year:

A little late for that, the construction contract has already been awarded

[rjag]

A little late for that, the construction contract has already been awarded

 

But the Premier gets to re-announce it in an effort to roll it into all the other housing announcements

[Citified.ca]

At 38.5 and 32.5 meters in height, the new buildings will surpass the existing tallest building (the Comp Sci-Engineering building, 31.3 meters tall) and push on-campus dorm housing to 2,900-units. UVic also has 121 cluster/townhome units and 46 self-contained apartments on-campus.

 

The buildings are in addition to the 59-unit 1312 Broad Street proposal that aims to deliver rental housing for UVic students in the downtown core.

 

UVic's 600-units of new student housing will push campus buildings to new heights

https://victoria.cit...to-new-heights/

[Greg]

I'm wondering why the CoV Councillors don't talk more about UVic housing. I think there are something like 22k students at UVic, so if there are 2,900 housing units on-campus, there are an incredibly large number of students in rental housing in Saanich and Victoria. Instead of the City of Victoria getting into the housing rental construction business, wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to be pushing for UVic to address the problem. Unless my numbers are way off, or I'm completely misunderstanding the situation, it seems like the dearth of affordable rental housing in the area could be completely solved by just removing most of the students from the rental pool.

[Nparker]

...Unless my numbers are way off, or I'm completely misunderstanding the situation, it seems like the dearth of affordable rental housing in the area could be completely solved by just removing most of the students from the rental pool.

But that doesn't support the agenda of the SJWs.

[Mattjvd]

I'm wondering why the CoV Councillors don't talk more about UVic housing. I think there are something like 22k students at UVic, so if there are 2,900 housing units on-campus, there are an incredibly large number of students in rental housing in Saanich and Victoria. Instead of the City of Victoria getting into the housing rental construction business, wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to be pushing for UVic to address the problem. Unless my numbers are way off, or I'm completely misunderstanding the situation, it seems like the dearth of affordable rental housing in the area could be completely solved by just removing most of the students from the rental pool.

Camosun has nearly 19,000 students (although a lot of those are part time) and 0 campus residences.

[Mike K.]

There is the 59-unit UVic-geared rental project Chard Development is moving forward with on Broad Street.

 

But yeah, 59-units is a drop in the bucket. Back when the Rocket Residences were making their way through the proposal phase UVic was in discussions with the developer to designate a portion of the units to their students. I don't think that ever materialized.

 

UVic and Camosun have vastly increased their uptake of international students due to the lucrative nature of international programs (virtually no taxpayer subsidies, fully paid tuition). There are currently 3,000 international students studying at UVic and 2,100 at Camosun. Of those 5,000-odd students, one can surmise that 2,500-to-3,500 (maybe even 4,000) units of housing are required to satisfy the housing needs of those students.

 

I couldn't easily find the number of international students at Royal Roads but they do solicit their business.

[Greg]

Right, so while we blame a handful of rich foreigners buying condos for our housing situation, we have literally thousands of units rented to international students (who are highly profitable to the Universities). So why aren't we pushing more at that pressure point if we want to address housing affordability. *Those* are the units that might actually provide affordable housing, while the high-end condo units are aimed at another market entirely.

[grantpalin]

Much needed. Now I'm not anti-height, but I am surprised that there will be two new buildings exceeding the height of the Engineering-Computer Science building (ECS), which I think is six floors. I guess it's needed due to there not being enough horizontal space available, but I had figured that ECS would tower over the rest of campus for a long time.

[Nparker]

...I am surprised that there will be two new buildings exceeding the height of the Engineering-Computer Science building (ECS), which I think is six floors...

Will the Gordon Head NIMBYs get their knickers in a knot about the height like they did with the CARSA project?

[thundergun]

Right, so while we blame a handful of rich foreigners buying condos for our housing situation, we have literally thousands of units rented to international students (who are highly profitable to the Universities). So why aren't we pushing more at that pressure point if we want to address housing affordability. 

 

Institutions would like to build but the Province does not allow them to take on outside debt, even if it is self-supported (e.g. good debt, like a mortgage on a condo that is covered by a rental tenant). This has been around for some time and doesn't show any chance of changing under the new government.

 

So, institutions need to enter into borrowing agreements with the Province that have a number of restrictions and is by no means is a simple/quick process. This Provincial borrowing is a new development. In recent times prior to this, institutions could only build residences if they self funded the entire project, which really only the big 3 can afford (UBC, SFU, UVIC)

[RFS]

Right, so while we blame a handful of rich foreigners buying condos for our housing situation, we have literally thousands of units rented to international students (who are highly profitable to the Universities). So why aren't we pushing more at that pressure point if we want to address housing affordability. *Those* are the units that might actually provide affordable housing, while the high-end condo units are aimed at another market entirely.

International students are rich foreigners

[jonny]

Oh no they're knocking over Emily Carr and Margaret Newton! I lived in EC for some of the best months of my life, but man was I happy to move out. 

[grantpalin]

Will the Gordon Head NIMBYs get their knickers in a knot about the height like they did with the CARSA project?

I somehow wouldn't be surprised, even though the new buildings will be more towards the middle of campus than the parkade is. Now that was a silly kerfuffle.

[North Shore]

International students are rich foreigners

Not sure that’s necessarily true...my wife and I know two foreign sisters who are here - they were working 6 days a week in their home country during the summer to earn enough money to pay their rent and tuition. They’re also living 3 people in a 2br apartment to save $. I’m sure that for every stereotypical ‘rich Asian driving to school in a BMW’ there’s probably two or three kids (families) busting their asses to make ends meet to get a good education in English.

[Mike K.]

Oh for sure, the spectrum is wide and all-encompassing.

Those sisters that you mention, are they UVic students?

[LJ]

Oooh, a tax on foreign renters. I see a new revenue stream.

[Casual Kev]

Not sure that’s necessarily true...my wife and I know two foreign sisters who are here - they were working 6 days a week in their home country during the summer to earn enough money to pay their rent and tuition. They’re also living 3 people in a 2br apartment to save $. I’m sure that for every stereotypical ‘rich Asian driving to school in a BMW’ there’s probably two or three kids (families) busting their asses to make ends meet to get a good education in English.

 

While you certainly describe most international grad and doctorate students, I can confidently say they are not the bulk of the international base in UVic. The majority are undergrads dropping 40+ thousand dollars per year thanks to the bank of mom & dad, who have most likely spent a whole lot more putting them through elite schools and university prep. Camosun and Royal Roads most likely have a higher proportion of "bustin ass" type of international though since their non-domestic tuition is a lot cheaper - though we're still talking 12-15 thousand plus living expenses, which is still too expensive to manage without substantial savings even with part-time work.

[rjag]

While you certainly describe most international grad and doctorate students, I can confidently say they are not the bulk of the international base in UVic. The majority are undergrads dropping 40+ thousand dollars per year thanks to the bank of mom & dad, who have most likely spent a whole lot more putting them through elite schools and university prep. Camosun and Royal Roads most likely have a higher proportion of "bustin ass" type of international though since their non-domestic tuition is a lot cheaper - though we're still talking 12-15 thousand plus living expenses, which is still too expensive to manage without substantial savings even with part-time work.

 

I was in the Continuing Studies program for 2 years, just finished this last April and I can say the classes were 75% international mature students on a 1-2 year student visa. There were some immigrants but mainly Visa people and lots of them were using this in an effort to get a Permanent Resident Card....none of them lived on campus, they all rented

[jonny]

Highly educated foreigners who want to become permanent residents are precisely the type of immigrants we should be striving to attract.