Andrew Parr is the Associate Vice President of Student Housing and Community Services at the University of British Columbia, with responsibility for Ancillary Services for both Vancouver Campus and the Okanagan campus.
UBC is one of the nation’s leading universities when it comes to student housing projects. They have invested almost $700 million into building 5,500 new student housing beds in the past 12 years and operate 15,500 beds on 2 campuses; the largest in Canada and rivaling many large US schools.
Just to set the scene, what are you seeing shifting in terms of student housing in Canada right now?
Well, in short: the need for more student housing at pretty much every university and college across Canada is significant.
This is probably a controversial statement, but I think there's a shift in the reason that universities have student housing at all. It’s about more than just supporting students that want to live on campus.
It's now quickly becoming a responsibility for universities and colleges to build student housing to support the greater housing crisis that exists in many parts of Canada, if not everywhere across Canada.
Something like 800,000 international students come to Canada to study. Every single one of those students has to live somewhere – and when there’s already a crunch in the public rental housing market, that means someone local has one less roof to choose from. So regretfully,international students studying in Canada compound the shortage of housing.
Canada being such an attractive international destination drives up rental rates because demand is greater than supply. You know, there's occupancy rates that are less than 1% in many regions, including Vancouver, Okanagan, Victoria and Toronto. So for institutions, there's a number of factors that come into play here that change the dynamic from, “Well, it's nice to have a bit of housing for students that want it.” to “We have a responsibility to make this investment in housing.”
I’d say that summarizes the most pressing change happening, but we can’t forget about the positive impact on students too. That’s a huge motivator to have and grow student housing stock. We know that students are able to become part of a community on the campus that they study in. They excel from an interpersonal relationship perspective, and some studies show that they’re also more likely to excel academically. They complete their program in a shorter period of time and that they contribute back to their institution more greatly as alumni.
So it seems like many institutions end up waiting until there’s a problem to start planning for student housing – but you see a few, like UBC, take a proactive approach.
For those schools that have a hard time taking that first step, what do you think holds them back?
It's a really interesting question. Even financing, which is always an initial struggle, can be resolved with enough prioritization (possibly through a third party). And we know there's many third-party vendors and developers out there that are actually starting to focus on student housing. That's taken off in the US over the last number of years, and it's starting to grow in Canada. So that’s one way around financing.
But I think sometimes it's the notion of risk – and that risk comes in two types.
The first is that many schools don't have any student housing, and the huge challenge of getting into that business can initially seem pretty significant. If you’re building 200 beds and you want to have a robust amenities package, with support services for those students that are now living with you – not just studying with you, but now living with you – there’s a need to build that enterprise up.
Campus security services, central student health services, counseling services or advising services all suddenly take on a slightly different demand. The students that live there expect some support, not just Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, but in the evenings and on weekends as well. So it has a broader spinoff effect on the campus.
And two:
Student housing – unlike say, an academic building – actually has financial return on investment at some point.
You make the investment up front and maybe it costs a hundred million dollars to make that investment. If you're borrowing internally (like we are able to do at UBC), you take a mortgage on that or some sort of borrowing structure, and then you have to pay that back and the cost of borrowing. This cost plus your operating costs can actually make you cash negative for a number of years.
So how are you going to cover that cash negativity in the short term? That’s one challenge. You know in the long run it's going to be cash positive but you need to figure out how to get there. In the meantime, there are tons of benefits, of course. During the academic term, you get this boost to your community that really brings a campus to life. More students living on campus creates more vibrancy during the day, on weekends, in the summer, it's a really bright, active community on a year-round basis now, and that of course, has a huge impact on the student experience.
So, coupled with that opening comment about responsibility, it's something that institutions really need to look at and consider as part of their core mission as opposed to a sideline service.
Also, provincial support is hugely impactful in these times. We've been fortunate to have BC invest over a billion dollars to support new student housing over the last 5 years, with more on the way. Other provinces who've been inactive in that regard may need a bit of a push on this issue.
Last question: tell me, what is the role of data-driven decision-making when it comes to planning for student housing? Because we're seeing a massive tide change in academia in that direction: leaning on data to justify moves that otherwise wouldn't be taken.
Data-driven decision-making plays a huge role. And I would also argue that people need to create a case and say, “These are the financial implications. This is the investment we need to make. This is the cost and this is the return on investment over time.”
The case for those arguments can be created internally in some cases. But I would say in many cases, that's not going to be enough; external expertise and support is needed.
Having data that's produced and given to the institution from a third party – by a consultant that has some expertise in this field, like CRI, not only allows for a deep analysis that considers data that's focused on that institution, but also incorporates more broadly focused trends across the country, trends within the province that you're in, or trends across North America.
It really helps when justifying a decision to stakeholders such as senior university executives, Boards of Governors and/or local or provincial governments to have that third-party lens on it, validating what you’re saying and benchmarking it against the rest of the industry.
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Read about how CRI helps kickstart student housing projects in a data-driven way here.
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