Housing summit proposes secondary units to help international students find housing
BELLEVILLE – Secondary units could help Loyalist’s international students find proper rental accommodations, said Mayor Mitch Panciuk at Belleville’s two day housing summit.
Over 800 international students are enrolled at Loyalist College this year and many have reported difficulties in finding a place to live.
At the summit, city councillors said they are aware of their struggles and are committed to help find solutions. One that could help is an option where the city provides funding to landlords to build more rental accommodations in Belleville.
These rental accommodations include a secondary unit which is an apartment built into or onto somebody’s existing house.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk says that fast tracking this could help international students sooner rather than later.
“The secondary suite aspect, I think, is really going to go a long way in a short period of time to provide more opportunities to them,” he said. “But also, the additional amount of rental stock that will be built will mean more choices and then hopefully that will provide more space for them as well.”
Belleville’s city council will continue the discussion on how to fund this plan at a special budget meeting form April 1 to April 5.
For a more in depth look at international students’ rental issues, listen to a podcast QNet News did earlier this year about it.
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