BC has “virtually no strategy” for housing international students, say critics

British Columbia’s success in attracting international students does not change the fact that the province has “virtually no strategy” to house these students, writes Douglas Todd for the Vancouver Sun. The author reports that the number of foreign students studying in BC has jumped by 44,000 in the past five years, and that four out of five of these students choose to study in Metro Vancouver, which has one of the lowest vacancy rates in the world at 0.7%.  “We have drastically increased demand with foreign students at the same time rental vacancies are almost non-existent,” says Gary Liu, a research scientist and foreign-student tutor who is also a director with Housing Action for Local Taxpayers. “Rents are going straight up. But the provincial government is doing nothing. It’s a gigantic failure on their part.” Vancouver Sun