On-campus student housing can address affordable housing issues in the community: Petter

Developing new student housing on campus has benefits that go beyond the student population in addressing rental housing shortages, writes Simon Fraser University President Emeritus Andrew Petter. Petter writes that in British Columbia, student housing can often be developed faster than affordable rental housing in the community. Given that most BC postsecondary institutions already have land that can be developed, he writes, planning permission can be easier to secure and the per-unit cost of housing tends to be lower. When students can be housed on-campus, this frees up rentals in the community. In light of these benefits, Petter calls for changes to the provincial accounting practices and policies that currently hold the province back from more aggressively supporting student housing projects Vancouver Sun Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.