Housing crunch adding to back-to-school stress, students say

Students at Ottawa's universities and colleges say the city's housing crunch is adding unwanted stress as they struggle to afford tuition and settle into school.

"It's been really hard to just find a place that works for me, that fits my budget and that I can call a home," said Maria Rey, a third-year student at Carleton University.

Rey said finding suitable housing has been more challenging this year than the previous two. She said she's been searching for a month, intensifying her efforts over the past two weeks while she stays with a friend.

"Where I live is really important to me, so it's my Number 1priority when it comes to my budget," she said.

Rey has had to nearly double her budget, and worries the time she's spendinghunting for a place to liveis cutting into the time she'd otherwise spend studying or working.

"It takes away from time that I actually need for school, and that's also an added stress that I really don't need," she said.

Rents skyrocketed

A recentrental market analysisby the City of Ottawa showed rents have skyrocketed in the past few years because the supply of new units has lagged behind the demand. Some students are also finding provincial funding cutsare adding to their budget burden.

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Monica Edwards said she spent months looking for a house off campus before starting at Algonquin College this fall.

"It was really, really slim pickings for finding places that were around my budget," the first-year student said."I felt kind of scared because I didn't know if I'd actually end up with a place, for the first semester at least."

Edwards got lucky and finally found a placelast month through a Facebook group. Itwas within her budget and close to campus.

Always a trade-off

The Algonquin Students' Association offersresources to students looking for off-campus housing, including hosting an online portal where landlords can advertise spaces for rent. As of Thursday, there were 50 listings.

"There's always lots available, but is it in the right location? Is it something they can actually afford? And is it going to offer them the privacy that they need to be independent?"said Michael Wolff, the association's director.

Wolff said most students don't have much wiggle room when it comes to their housing budget. He said even anextra $100 per month can be a deal-breaker, because that's money that's not available for other necessities.

"Price is the Number 1factor for students," Wolff said."It's hard to balance part-time work with full-time school and come up with enough money to pay for school and rent and groceries."

Edwards said before she finally landed a place, she felt she was always making a trade-off.

"Even if it was in my budget, it [was]just way too far away," Edwards said.