With rents increasing nearly 20 percent since last summer, finding affordable housing has become a challenge for many Lethbridge residents.
According to a report by Rentals.ca and Urbanation, rental prices in Lethbridge have skyrocketed 19.7 percent over the past year, making the southern Alberta city the fifth fastest-growing community in Canada.
This comes as students plan to return to Lethbridge in the coming weeks ahead of the new academic year.
Laura Correal, deputy director of housing services at the University of Lethbridge, says off-campus markets have created significant demand for student dorm rooms.
“Many of our students come to campus looking for housing, but right now we are at capacity. We have a waiting list that will probably not be resolved until the start of fall.”
However, she says students simply aren’t able to find alternative accommodation, even when they look off-campus.
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“A lot of students think they can look at prices here and then off campus, but that’s not beneficial to them. Then they come back and back out and say there’s nothing for them. So we tell them they can get on the waitlist, when in reality we probably can’t get them in.”
Meanwhile, Robin James of the Lethbridge Housing Authority explains that rising costs are affecting landlords as much as tenants.
“When costs go up, rents go up. So we see that. A lot of landlords are doing their best to manage their finances themselves. They have mortgages and they pay taxes as well. So we know those things are passed on.”
In Alberta, there has been an increase in rental offers of between 12.8 and 23.1 percent compared to the previous year, depending on the size of the apartment.
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