Introduction
International students refer to students who relocate to another country for educational purposes. Thus, they are temporary residents in that country with study permits or, in some cases, with refugee status. Housing is one of the crucial aspects that international students consider when looking for a university of choice because it offers them a home during their studies. Therefore, the housing situation influences students’ career aspirations, educational success, and attainments. International students in various parts of the world often need help with challenges and opportunities during their quest for suitable, safe, and affordable accommodation due to their lack of knowledge and insight into the available housing and where the housing they are looking for can be found. This paper explores profoundly the challenges and opportunities that international students in North York encounter when looking for safe, suitable, and affordable accommodation.
The Challenges
International students face various challenges when looking for safe, suitable, and affordable accommodations in North York due to its central significance in the GTA regarding the economic and geographical aspects. Safe accommodation refers to a place where the t compromises the health and welfare of the student; the student is protected from criminal activities and has access to essentials such as electricity and water. On the other hand, affordable accommodation refers to housing units that are reasonably priced according to the section of society. Suitable accommodations are determined by proximity to the university, privacy matters, family accommodations, and environmental factors. Therefore, some of the challenges international students in North York experience when looking for affordable, suitable, and safe accommodation include the high cost of rent, shortage of affordable accommodation, cultural differences, language barriers, high cost of living, high crime rates in the area, lack of student loans, lack of information, and lack of employment opportunities.
The cost of rent in most accommodations in North York is high due to the central remarkableness in consideration of its geographical and economic facets. Other factors such as inflation, escalating mortgage rates, rising interests, increasing utility costs, and increasing demand for housing contribute to the high rental costs in North York, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic (Morris et al., 2020). These factors impact the capability of international students to acquire reasonably priced, safe, and preferable accommodation. The findings of the study research evinced that the international students residing in the university residences claimed that the monthly rent was increasing by roughly $300 for the past three to four years, which the international students deemed expensive as compared to those living off campus (Calder et al., 2016). Moreover, based on the latest coordinated ethnographic interview, the interviewee delineated that she had an experience where the rent was supposed to be increased by $500 per month due to the rising interest rates, which posed a challenge to the interviewee being an international student as she could not afford the increased monthly rent. It is thus apparent from the above explanations that the high cost of rent in North York due to various factors mentioned above poses a challenge for international students when looking for housing. The following charts illustrate the monthly rent increase yearly due to the rising interest rates.
Increase in monthly rent Chart.
The scarcity of affordable accommodation is another remarkable challenge to international students when searching for accessible, suitable, and safe accommodation in North York. The inadequacy of affordable student housing has forced about four hundred and twelve thousand international students studying in North York to seek rental apartments in the nearby apartments, and this change has endangered rental market distortion, hence leading to a shortage of affordable housing in the area (Sotomayor et al., 2022). There have been numerous cases of insufficiency of affordable housing in North York, which has rendered many international students homeless, forcing others to decide on couch surfing and others to hang around overnight on the university premises. The homelessness caused by the inadequacy of affordable housing has left international students in unsafe and dangerous situations, such as waiting around overnight in university buildings.
Cultural disparities and the language barrier is also severe challenge that international students encounter when searching for affordable, suitable, and safe accommodations in North York. This is attributed to the fact that international students come from different countries with diverse cultural practices and different languages (Marom, 2022). Therefore, when they come to North York, Canada, a new country, they often experience culture shock due to cultural differences and language barriers. Hence, international students may experience challenges due to cultural differences and language barriers when finding safe, suitable, and affordable accommodation when the landlord has a different cultural background from the international student and speaks a different language that the student needs to be more knowledgeable of. These differences may need to be clarified when discussing fundamental aspects regarding housing renting and when airing concerns to the landlord, which may eventually lead to conflicts (Marom, 2022). In addition, based on the interview, the interviewee also reported that the cultural differences and language barrier pose a challenge when cohabiting with a landlord due to differences in lifestyle habits, such as sleeping schedules and cooking preferences, which may lead to misunderstandings and disagreements.
The high cost of living in North York is also a fundamental challenge to international students when looking for affordable, safe, and suitable accommodation, given that the area has central significance in GTA in economic and geographical respects. It has been outlined from a recent survey that there are situations where international students in North York are pushed to decide between rent and food due to the high cost of living in the area. It has also been established that international students enrolled in studies in North York tend to underrate the food prices in the region when budgeting (Calder et al., 2016). Moreover, it is detailed that the expensive living in North York has compelled international students to look for casual jobs to contribute to the monthly rent with support from home. This is in agreement with the interviewee’s account duri. During a recent interview, she disclosed that she works part-time and 80 percent of her earnings go to the rent Goader et al., 2016). According to 2023 statistics of the North York cost of living, goods and services are 33%, housing is 30%, groceries is 13%, utilities is 10%, transportation is 9%, and healthcare is 5% of the total cost of living index. This explicitly illustrates the high cost of living in North York, which poses a challenge to international students when finding affordable, suitable, and safe housing in addition to the high cost of rent. The chart below indicates the percentage of each cost of living index.
Lack of information about the available and efficient accommodations and where to find affordable, safe, and suitable accommodation is also a substantial challenge to international students due to unfamiliarity with the area (Rose, 2019). Therefore, the students are scammed and rent insecure, unfavorable, and expensive accommodations.
The high crime rate reported in North York also challenges international students in their quest for secure, preferable, and affordable accommodations. The total crime rate in North York is thirteen percent below the national average rate. The crimes comprise property crimes, fourteen percent below the national average rate, and violent crimes, nine percent below the national average rate. The violent crimes experienced in North York entail assault, robbery, homicide, harassment, kidnapping, and murder. On the other hand, property crimes in North York entail fraud, breaking, mischief, and motor vehicle theft (Sotomayor et al., 2022). Therefore, the high crime rate of property and violent crimes constitutes a challenge to international students when searching for secure, affordable, and desirable accommodation in North York. The graph below explicitly illustrates the total crime, violent crime, and property crime rates in North York.
Percentages of the total crime rate, violent crime rate, and property crime rate in North York
Opportunities
Despite the challenges that international students face when looking for affordable, safe, and favorable accommodation, there are also opportunities that facilitate international students to obtain suitable, affordable, safe housing in North York. These opportunities entail support systems and information systems. The support systems entail social support, faculty support, institutional support, and student associations. Social support refers to the support from the family, such as financial support, to cater to affordable, safe, and suitable accommodation in North York, considering the high cost of living in the area. Faculty support refers to the faculty’s provision, such as emergency funding for international students. This is helpful when the rent is increased due to various factors such as increased interest rates, utility costs, and increased demand as the funds enable the international to secure affordable, safe, and suitable accommodations (Rose, 2019). Additionally, institutional support such as loans, bursaries, and emergency services such as food banks and emergency funds are beneficial to international students when finding safe, affordable, and favorable accommodations as support such as food banks helps the students cut on food expenses and use the saved money to pay rent. Student associations also play a crucial role in ensuring that international students find affordable, safe, and suitable accommodations by donating foodbanks, hence helping the students to save on food considering the high cost of food in North York and thus enabling the international students to use the saved cash in paying rent.
On the other hand, information system, such as institution-provided information, offers international students detailed information on housing in North York, such as the available on-campus housing, registry list of residences, and on-campus and off-campus housing. Other important information provided by the institution includes tenant rights in case of any issues, the way rental agreements work, the way university policies work to address issues regarding accommodations and housing, and information on living expenses in North York to prepare international students in terms of knowledge how to find safe, suitable and affordable accommodation in North York (Pottie‐Sherman et al., 2023). Therefore, providing international students with relevant and elemental information on housing in North York will help solve the housing issues experienced by the students.
References
Calder, M. J., Richter, S., Mao, Y., Kovacs Burns, K., Mogale, R. S., & Danko, M. (2016). International students attending Canadian universities: Their experiences with housing, finances, and other issues. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 46(2), 92-110.
Sotomayor, L., Tarhan, D., Vieta, M., McCartney, S., & Mas, A. (2022). When students are house-poor: Urban universities, student marginality, and the hidden curriculum of student housing. Cities, p. 124, 103572.
Pottie‐Sherman, Y., Christensen, J., Foroutan, M., & Zhou, S. (2023). Navigating the housing crisis: A comparison of international students and newcomers in a mid‐sized Canadian city. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien.
Rose, D. (2019). Creating a home in Canada: Refugee housing challenges and potential policy solutions. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
Marom, L. (2022). Outsiders-insiders-in between: Punjabi international students in Canada navigating identity amid interethnic tensions. Globalization, Societies and Education, 20(2), 221–235.
Morris, A., Hastings, C., Wilson, S., Mitchell, E., Ramia, G., & Overgaard, C. (2020). The experience of international students before and during COVID-19: Housing, work, study and wellbeing.
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