UNB partners with home-sharing platform to address housing affordability

Home sharing is a concept that universities across the country have been latching onto in the face of a housing shortage, and the University of New Brunswick is no exception.

The university has partnered with SpacesShared, an online platform that matches students withaffordable rooms in the houses of local homeowners.

Like similar platforms, the students and homeowners will make profiles on the site so they can be matched based on personality, lifestyle and affordability needs.

"It is one other option to our traditional options our on-campus residence housing, as well as regular off-campus apartment living," said Kathy Wilson, UNB's vice-provost of learning and student experience.

"But I think really what it does is it helps establish a sense of community and connection. One of the things that we know is that belonging is an attribute that really supports student success in university.This is one step for new people coming to the community to really start to feel enmeshed and embedded there."

Wilson said if students want to live in residence, there are usually places for them, but she said it isn't usually known until well into September if the residences will fill up.

But for students seeking off-campus housing in Fredericton and Saint John, she said the issues lie more with affordability than availability. She said there are a lot of high-end apartments available, leaving students who havebudget constraints without much to choose from.

That's why she saidthe program will be important it will allow for more affordable options. And, she said, the contracts can be adjusted to allow for money off of rent in exchange for things like household chores.

Drashtant Varma, the president of UNB Fredericton's student union, said he thinks home sharing is a great idea and something that has been successful in other parts of the country.

He said there is an affordable housing problem, which he hopes the program will help with, but he also thinks it could be helpful in connecting people who are new to the city with existing members of the community.

"I think it's a neat idea, the fact that students coming from out of town, whether international or domestic, to come live in Fredericton, are able to connect with someone already living here someone who can help them, you know, find their way around town, learn things about town and whatnot and then that person also gets company from a student," he said.

Varma said he thinks once students hear more about the program, after the university has enlisted enough hosts, there will be a lot of interest, especially for international students.

"UNB brings in students from over 100 different countries," he said. "I can speak from first-hand and personal experience, many of these students that come in, come from diasporas that have a big sense of community, big sense of belonging, something that they find difficult to find here. And this helps with that."

The SpacesShared websitelists 23 university, college and organization partnerships, including UNB.

Wilson said she doesn't think the housing situation for students in Fredericton and Saint John has reached a dire state yet, but she hopes the home-sharing program will allow them to "get ahead of the curve."

Other jurisdictions have taken similar routes. At the Universit de Moncton, the administration hasput calls out in the past to local community members appealing for empty rooms amid a growing waitlist for campus housing.

At St. Thomas University, Ryan Sullivan, the vice-president of enrolment management, said the university isn't considering a home-sharing approach at the moment. He said there is currentlyroom left in residence, and residenceaccommodationcan be guaranteedforany student who wants it.

Near thebeginning of the pandemic, St. Thomas did partner with the VilleCooperative for an intergenerational housing program, he said, but there wasn't a lot of interest among students. This could have been because of the timing, he said.

More recently, the New Brunswick Community College partnered with Canada HomeShare to offer an intergenerational living program to its Miramichi and Saint Andrews students, which brought together students and people aged 55 and older to support aging in place while providing affordable housing.

Wilson said that SpacesShared started with an intergenerational model but provides more than that option now.

"There were some really good connections that could be made from, you know, a nursing student rooming with a nurse, a student engineer rooming with an engineer, or just people who have similar interests," she said.

"We certainly promote intergenerational living I think that's probably where the opportunity to reduce the rent through, you know, doing chores and odd jobs came around. So I don't think it eliminates that. It just expands beyond that."