IN THIS ISSUE

🎩 3 policies for parties to steal if they want to win over young voters

👏 This edition of good news in housing

• Toronto gets $2.55b to build new rental homes

• Housing Accelerator Fund rewards 27 cities

• 25 ideas to fix the housing crisis

🧩 More from Studenthaus

🗂 Rental resources

TOP STORY

🗳️ Election time. What now?

On April 28, Canadians will head to the ballot box and vote in a federal election. Despite uncertainty around the United States and tariffs, housing is already shaping up to be a defining issue. For millions of young Canadians, the real question isn’t just who says “affordability.” It’s who will actually build housing that fits their lives.

We’ve surveyed and interviewed thousands of young renters across Canada — listen to what some are saying on our Instagram. Their feedback has come through loud and clear: young people want housing built for them and will vote for the party that promises to deliver it.

This urgency isn’t coming out of nowhere. Canada is short 400k purpose-built student beds, enough for just 15% of students. We break this down further in Canada’s Student Housing Problem.

Policy ideas to steal for the 2025 election

With party platforms soon to be announced, here are three solutions that politicians could steal or build on to win over young voters. Each one would go a long way to improve the status quo.

Define off-campus student housing

Ask five people in housing policy what “off-campus student housing” means and you’ll get five different answers. Some think it’s dorms. Some think it’s co-living. Some think it’s just regular apartments with younger tenants.

That lack of clarity is a huge problem. It makes it harder to zone, finance, and plan. The federal government should bring together developers, universities, non-profits, and lenders to land on a clear, national definition of off-campus PBSA. This will make it easier to create policy to address this issue.

Make it easier to build student housing

Ontario’s Bill 185 proposes to exempt campus housing from site plan approvals and development charges. It’s a smart move that will deliver housing faster, but only in Ontario, and only on campuses. Step one is to take this nationwide.

Unfortunately, most students don’t live on campus — and most of the housing that needs to be built won’t be either. Universities just don’t have the resources.

So step two is a coordinated approach from the feds, provinces, and municipalities to apply the same (or similar) principles to off-campus student housing. This could look like standardized approvals, cost exemptions, and fewer barriers to building.

Build a funding program just for student housing

In January, the federal government made a key change: it expanded the Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP) to include student housing. It was the right call — but it only goes so far.

Student housing projects now technically qualify, but they’re still lumped in with traditional rentals, competing for the same pool of funding. That means longer waits, more risk, and less incentive to build.

Meanwhile, CMHC’s MLI Select program rewards affordability, energy efficiency, and accessibility — but wasn’t designed with student housing in mind. Builders are left trying to fit a round peg into a square financing program.

We need a dedicated, student-specific funding stream. One that understands just how far behind other countries Canada is on purpose-built student housing.

The Bottom Line

To political leaders: feel free to borrow any of these suggestions. Fixing student housing is a great way to take pressure off the rest of the housing market — any of these three would be a solid start.

This election, young people aren’t voting based on vibes. They’re voting based on whether they’ll have a place to live next semester. Now is the time to show young voters that the next government cares about what they want.

It’s simple — build housing for young Canadians and they will vote for you.

👏 Good news in housing

Toronto gets $2.55b to build new rental homes

Toronto and the feds just struck a $2.55B deal to fast-track over 4,800 new rental homes (including more than 1,000 affordable units), thanks to a boost from the Apartment Construction Loan Program. Keep reading…

Housing Accelerator Fund rewards 27 cities

Vancouver, Kelowna, and Calgary just scored millions in extra federal funding for doing the one thing that matters — getting housing built faster. Turns out saying “yes” to housing starts pays off. Keep reading…

25 ideas to fix the housing crisis

Maclean’s dropped a long list of outside-the-box strategies to fix the housing crisis, designed to slash prices and build homes ASAP. It’s worth a read. Keep reading…

🧩 More from Studenthaus

🗂 Rental resources

Whether it’s your first time living on your own or you’ve been renting for years, this is the time of year that lots of young people are considering their future housing plans.

Is your landlord illegally entering your unit, trying to change your agreement without your consent, or unreasonably preventing you from having overnight guests?

If so, and you can’t quite figure out how to word a message to your landlord, check out the list of template letters from BC’s Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre to help you out.

There’s even a template roommate agreement.

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