UBC Okanagan Faces a Housing Shortage on Campus

This article is written entirely by a UBCO student as part of the school's Economics and the Media course. It has not been fact-checked by KelownaNow.

With just short of 1680 beds available on campus and almost 2500 first year students in 2017 alone, the university seems to face a housing problem. Housing used to be guaranteed to incoming students at UBC Okanagan. Current students are forced to cope with a less-than-ideal priority placement system and a shortage in campus housing.

(Source: Screenshot from UBC Okanagan Guest Accommodation website)

The so-called ‘First Year Guarantee’ gives incoming UBCO students priority when it comes to campus housing. Student Housing and Hospitality Services extends this provision to all incoming students that meet certain basic requirements. Such conditions include applying on time, accepting UBCO’s offer of admission, and coming straight from high school.

Even with “more than 1.5 million square feet of usable space” the campus seems not to have had the capacity to accommodate all new students looking for housing. Additional logistical errors put many incoming students into a tough spot.

Liam Hang-Fung Lau, a first-year international student from Shanghai, is one of several first year students, who had to look off-campus for housing. He received his offer of admission to UBCO on May 8th 2017, a week after the campus housing application deadline had already past.

After consulting UBCO about his situation, Liam was told there was nothing to be done, even though he met all other requirements for the ‘First Year Guarantee.’ His roommate, Jeffrey Sun, also experienced a similar case. Liam and his roommate are only two examples of first-year students, who were rejected from campus housing.

When asked to comment on UBCO’s lack of guaranteed first-year housing, a staff member of the university’s Housing and Hospitality Services seemed unaware of the issue. The office could not comment on any future plans to expand campus housing.

There are projects set in motion to tackle the shortage of housing at the university, says Nicola Kane from Campus Planning and Development. She explained that plans exist to build two new residence buildings on campus. The proposed titles for the buildings are ‘Nechako Commons’ and ‘Skaenna Residence.’

(Source: Screenshot from Housing Commons Development Application Package from February 21, 2018)

“These new buildings will provide more housing on campus, a common area, and food services to meet the growing demand,” says UBCO’s Director of University Relations, Bud Mortenson. The residence buildings will add “approximately 440 new beds by fall 2020.”

(Source: Screenshot from UBC Okanagan Skeena Residence Preliminary Development Application from February 21, 2018)

According to the Campus Planning and Development website, the buildings will include “residence beds and a commons block with a 500-seat dining hall and kitchen facilities, offices, and quiet study and informal gathering space for residence students.” Mortenson adds that although the UBCO student population has almost tripled since it opened in 2005, he expects “growth will plateau in 3 to 5 years.”

With slower population growth on campus and new housing projects in the near future, UBCO might soon be able to truly guarantee housing to all first-year student. This might seem like a short-term solution as the campus grows but there are further projects on the radar. As the campus master plan materializes, the future for on-campus housing looks bright.