StudentDwell+: Re-Imagining Student Housing

Toronto’s housing markets are currently unaffordable for many households. The rising costs of paying for rent and the current overcrowding of homeless shelters reveal a system that needs to be fixed. While data on housing security, affordability, and poverty for the city’s general population is widely discussed and accessible through a variety of sources, there is little information available on specific student housing issues. Meanwhile, housing has been recognized as a key factor influencing students’ perceived security, university engagement, drop-out rates, and academic success. A lack of a clear understanding of the housing needs of this large population creates hidden inequalities and deters meaningful policy dialogue while discouraging the development of optimized housing solutions for students. StudentDwellTO was created in response to this research gap.

StudentDwellTO is a multi-university, multidisciplinary initiative funded by the Presidents of the four Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Universities (OCAD University, Ryerson University, University of Toronto and York University) to examine access to affordable housing for postsecondary students, a challenge that has by all accounts reached a crisis point in GTA. The project team includes students and faculty from all four universities, and partners from government, non-profit, community and private sector organizations. The research partnership aims to provide a deeper understanding of student needs and choices about housing, while suggesting possible policy and development directions for decision-makers at the four participating universities, as well as municipal and provincial policymakers.

In addition to research activities, over the past two years, StudentDwellTO has been very active engaging students in housing affordability discussions, supporting student connections across the four campuses, enabling student innovation across disciplines in relation to housing and transportation problems through courses, workshops and studios, and motivating student-driven action oriented to social change.

We are now pleased to invite you to StudentDwell+: Re-Imagining Student Housing. This will be a large symposium event taking place on May y 2-3 2019 at York University’s Second Student Centre. The purpose of StudentDwell+ is to release the findings of the StudentDwellTO initiative and discuss alternatives to the housing (un)affordability crisis. Join academics, practitioners, policymakers, university administrators and students in reimagining student housing!

Speakers include:
Nour Alideeb, Chair, Canadian Federation of Students, Ontario Chapter
Jean-Paul Addie, Assistant Professor, Urban Studies Institute, Georgia State University
Cheryl Atkinson, Professor of Architecture, Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University
Jeremy Bowes, Professor in Design, OCAD University
Ian Crookshank, President of the Ontario Association of College and University Housing Officers
Lisa Freeman, Assistant Professor, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Meric Gertler, President of University of Toronto
Melissa Goldstein, Rooming House Policy Researcher & Organizer, Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust
Murtaza Haider, Associate Professor, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Roger Keil, Professor, Chair in Global Sub/Urban Studies, York University
Katharina Kovacs-Burns, Senior Manager, Alberta Health Services
Rhonda Lenton, President and Vice-Chancellor, York University
Laurent Levesque, Executive Director, UTILE Montreal
Steven Liss, Vice-President Research and Innovation, Ryerson University
Lisa Mader, Counsellor, Nova Scotia Community College
Shelagh McCartney, Assistant Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University
Marc Norman, Associate Professor of Practice in Urban and Regional Planning, Taubman College, University of Michigan
Ashish Pillai, PhD student, OISE/University of Toronto
Mauricio Quirós, Assistant Professor, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, University of Toronto
Peter Milczyn, former Ontario Minister of Housing
Nick Revington, PhD Candidate, University of Waterloo
Heather Ritz, Social Worker, University of Alberta
Kaitlin Schwan, Senior Researcher, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Zachery Spire, Post-Doctoral Researcher, University College London
Luisa Sotomayor, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
Derya Tarhan, PhD Candidate, OISE/University of Toronto
Laura Taylor, Associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
Ted Tsiakopoulo, Regional Economist, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Marcelo Vieta, Assistant Professor, OISE/University of Toronto
Eric Weissman, Assistant Professor, University of New Brunswick
Reva White, MES (Planning) Candidate, York University