Economic and Social Reports
Housing international students: Housing suitability across municipalities
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202400500001-eng
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Abstract
An increase in the number of international students and a greater need for affordable housing have prompted questions about their housing experiences. This article examines the prevalence of living in unsuitable housing for international students enumerated in the 2021 Census of Population long-form questionnaire and provides comparisons with Canadian-born students across municipalities. The results indicated that international students were more likely to live in unsuitable housing than Canadian-born students. However, there was a large variation across municipalities in the proportion of international students living in unsuitable housing. In the top 10 municipalities with the highest number of international students, the rates of living in unsuitable housing ranged from 25% to 63% for international students, about 13 to 45 percentage points higher than that for Canadian-born students aged 18 to 24. Furthermore, there were large disparities in unsuitable housing rates across international student groups from different source countries. Students from India were more likely to live in unsuitable housing compared with those from other countries. In Brampton and Surrey, the municipalities with the largest shares of Indian students, the proportions of international students in unsuitable housing were the highest. The difference in the source-country composition of international students accounted for most of the variation across municipalities in international students’ housing suitability.
Canada welcomes a large number of international studentsNote each year from various countries, and the number of arrivals has increased over the past two decades (Choi, Crossman & Hou, 2021; Crossman et al., 2022). The increase in the number of international students and a greater need for affordable housing have prompted questions about their housing experiences (Pottie-Sherman et al., 2023). International students have reported difficulties finding affordable and suitable housing because of cultural differences, language barriers, lack of familiarity with the Canadian housing system and regulations, and other obstacles (El Masri & Khan, 2022). As international students may have unique housing experiences, it is important to understand how this population fares in terms of housing conditions (Pottie-Sherman et al., 2023). There may also be geographic differences in the housing conditions of international students across municipalities because of variations in regional housing markets (see Statistics Canada, 2022). Furthermore, international students from different source countries may vary in their financial resources and cultural norms regarding living arrangements.
Using data from the 2021 Census of Population, this article examines the prevalence of living in unsuitable housingNote for international students enumerated in the long-form census questionnaireNote and provides comparisons with Canadian-born studentsNote across municipalities (or census subdivisions [CSDs]).Note Since the long-form census questionnaire did not collect information for people living in collective dwellings, including school residences, this article covers only international students living in private households. Data are shown separately for the top 10 CSDs with the highest number of international students and the 5 CSDs with the highest proportion of international students by their share of the total population of Canadians.Note This article further examines the variation in housing suitability of international students by their source country and whether such variation is associated with differences in international students’ housing suitability across municipalities.
Housing suitability of international students in municipalities with the largest number of international students
Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver—Canada’s three largest municipalities—had the largest number of international students. In 2021, about 31% of all international students in Canada were concentrated in Toronto (44,670), Montréal (43,430) and Vancouver (17,030) (Table 1). Another 25% of international students were located in the other top 10 municipalities with the largest number of international students. The remaining 44% of international students were scattered across other municipalities.
Among the top 10 CSDs with the most international students, Brampton (63%) and Surrey (61%) had the largest shares of students living in unsuitable housing, whereas Vancouver (29%) and Calgary (25%) had the lowest. International students were more likely to live in unsuitable housing compared with Canadian-born students across all municipalities. The largest differences were observed for Brampton (about 43 percentage points) and Surrey (about 45 percentage points).
| Number of study permits | Population share | Not suitable housing (observed) | Not suitable housing (adjusted) | Not suitable housing (observed) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| International students | Canadian-born students aged 18 to 24 | ||||
| count | percent | percent | predicted probabilityTable 1 Note 2 | percent | |
| Top 10: Total study permit holders | |||||
| Toronto | 44,670 | 1.6 | 37.2 | 37.2 | 24.3 |
| Montréal | 43,430 | 2.5 | 34.2 | 35.8 | 16.8 |
| Vancouver | 17,030 | 2.6 | 29.2 | 32.5 | 15.4 |
| Winnipeg | 14,780 | 2.0 | 39.8 | 40.7 | 10.6 |
| Brampton | 14,770 | 2.3 | 63.3 | 39.6 | 20.8 |
| Surrey | 14,740 | 2.6 | 61.1 | 40.1 | 16.6 |
| Ottawa | 11,920 | 1.2 | 34.3 | 39.0 | 12.4 |
| Edmonton | 9,170 | 0.9 | 28.6 | 30.8 | 11.8 |
| London | 8,790 | 2.1 | 35.3 | 36.1 | 12.4 |
| Calgary | 8,780 | 0.7 | 24.8 | 27.6 | 9.1 |
| Other municipalities | 146,260 | 0.6 | 30.5 | 33.4 | 9.0 |
| Top 5: Population share of study permit holdersTable 1 Note 1 | |||||
| Metro Vancouver A | 1,960 | 11.5 | 17.0 | 19.3 | 18.5 |
| Waterloo | 6,370 | 5.4 | 25.0 | 26.4 | 12.1 |
| Charlottetown | 1,420 | 3.8 | 26.9 | 36.7 | 6.2 |
| Burnaby | 7,900 | 3.2 | 27.7 | 30.9 | 14.9 |
| St. John's | 2,570 | 2.4 | 20.2 | 27.6 | 4.1 |
| Other municipalities | 238,930 | 0.7 | 35.0 | 34.7 | 11.0 |
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population. |
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As mentioned, international students arrive from many different countries. Table 2 (left panel) shows the percentages of international students born in India and China—the top two source countries—and all other countries by CSD. Brampton and Surrey had the greatest shares of international students from India (91% and 79%, respectively), followed by third-ranking Winnipeg (31%) with a much lower share. Table 2 (right panel) indicates that international students from India were more likely to live in unsuitable housing than those from other countries, regardless of the CSD.
The high observed rates of international students living in unsuitable housing in Brampton and Surrey may be attributable to the compositional characteristics of international students and the municipalities’ overall housing conditions. The rates in Brampton and Surrey were similar to those in the top four municipalities with the largest number of international students once the analysis accounted for differences in the gender, age, year of first study permit and country of birth of international students; the CSD median rental cost; and the share of apartments among total dwellingsNote (Table 1, adjusted). Further decomposition analysis suggests that source country composition accounted for most of the high rates of unsuitable housing in these two CSDs.
| Percent distribution of source countries by municipality | Unsuitable housing by source country and municipality | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | China | Other | India | China | Other | |
| percent | ||||||
| Top 10: Total study permit holders | ||||||
| Toronto | 26.9 | 22.9 | 50.2 | 66.1 | 16.1 | 31.3 |
| Montréal | 24.4 | 9.5 | 66.1 | 77.0 | 19.5 | 20.6 |
| Vancouver | 14.7 | 14.2 | 71.1 | 53.3 | 15.1 | 27.0 |
| Winnipeg | 31.4 | 16.9 | 51.7 | 68.1 | 13.4 | 31.2 |
| Brampton | 90.6 | 0.3 | 9.1 | 66.5 | Note x: suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | 33.4 |
| Surrey | 79.2 | 5.7 | 15.1 | 69.4 | 13.7 | 35.4 |
| Ottawa | 25.9 | 21.1 | 53.0 | 68.6 | 21.2 | 22.7 |
| Edmonton | 29.9 | 21.9 | 48.3 | 47.0 | 18.8 | 21.6 |
| London | 31.1 | 19.7 | 49.2 | 69.5 | 7.9 | 24.6 |
| Calgary | 25.6 | 14.3 | 60.1 | 46.0 | 12.9 | 18.6 |
| Other municipalities | 28.3 | 19.1 | 52.6 | 59.5 | 11.5 | 21.8 |
| Top 5: Population share of study permit holdersTable 2 Note 1 | ||||||
| Metro Vancouver A | 8.7 | 31.9 | 59.3 | Note x: suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | 19.9 | 17.5 |
| Waterloo | 35.5 | 34.9 | 29.6 | 42.0 | 10.9 | 21.3 |
| Charlottetown | 7.5 | 18.9 | 73.6 | Note x: suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | 15.1 | 24.2 |
| Burnaby | 15.6 | 29.6 | 54.7 | 56.6 | 11.0 | 28.6 |
| St. John's | 14.2 | 9.9 | 75.9 | 54.9 | Note x: suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | 15.7 |
| Other municipalities | 32.7 | 17.8 | 49.5 | 62.8 | 13.5 | 24.3 |
x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act
|
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Housing suitability in the top five municipalities with the highest share of international students in the total population
In the top 10 municipalities where international students were mostly concentrated, their proportion in the total population was generally small, at less than 3%. Because of their small relative population size, their aggregate demand for housing may be smaller in these municipalities than in municipalities where international students accounted for a larger share of the total population. International students’ aggregate demand in a local community could be a potential factor affecting their housing conditions. For this reason, this section focuses on the top five municipalities with the highest share of international students.
All top five CSDs with the highest proportion of international students by total population share contain at least one university. Metro Vancouver A (12%), where the University of British Columbia is located, had the largest share of international students among the CSDs in this category. Waterloo (5%) was ranked second, and Charlottetown (4%) ranked third (Table 1).
Among the top five CSDs, the share of international students living in unsuitable housing ranged from 17% (in Metro Vancouver A) to 28% (in Burnaby). International students in all top five CSDs were less likely to live in unsuitable housing compared with the average of other municipalities outside the top five (35%). However, compared with Canadian-born students, international students were more likely to live in unsuitable housing in four of the top five municipalities. In Metro Vancouver A, international students were slightly less likely to live in non-suitable housing.Note
Most international students in the top five CSDs were born in countries other than India or China (Table 2, left panel). One exception was Waterloo, where there were similar proportions of students from India, China and other countries. The shares of international students from India were particularly low in Metro Vancouver A (9%) and Charlottetown (8%). Once the compositional characteristics of students and the municipality’s overall housing conditions were accounted for, the adjusted rates of living in unsuitable housing increased for all top five CSDs, especially Charlottetown and St. John’s (Table 1, adjusted).
In summary, international students were generally more likely to live in unsuitable housing than Canadian-born students. However, there was a large variation in the proportion of international students living in unsuitable housing across municipalities.Note Furthermore, there were large disparities in unsuitable housing rates across international student groups from different source countries. Students from India were more likely to live in unsuitable housing compared with those from other countries. In Brampton and Surrey, the municipalities with the largest shares of Indian students, the proportions of international students in unsuitable housing were the highest. The difference in the source-country composition of international students accounted for most of the variation across municipalities in international students’ housing suitability.
The findings presented in this article offer a snapshot of housing suitability for international students as of the 2021 Census of Population. It is crucial to note that the international student population has been undergoing rapid changes in terms of overall numbers and sociodemographic characteristics (Crossman et al., 2022). Consequently, the housing conditions for international students may have evolved as well. Notably, after a large increase from 225,000 in 2010 to 638,000 in 2019, the number of international students declined to 527,000 in 2020 because of travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number recovered to 617,000 in 2021 and grew substantially to 804,000 in 2022 and 1,041,000 in 2023 (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, n.d.). These dynamic shifts underscore the necessity to keep monitoring the housing circumstances of international students.
Authors
Max Stick and Feng Hou are with the Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Analytical Studies and Modelling Branch, at Statistics Canada. Haozhen Zhang is with the Research and Data Branch at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Acknowledgments
This study was conducted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Statistics Canada. The authors would like to thank Nicolas Bastien, Jean-Philippe Deschamps-Laporte, Chris Hamilton, Allison Leanage, Jeff Randle, Iain Revee and Catherine Tuey for their advice and comments on an earlier version of this article.
References
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