Letter: In defence of housing policy

By Alastair MacKinnon

Editor, the Gauntlet,

[“Affordable housing blues and a call to abandon ship,” Chuck Day, Oct. 2, Gauntlet]

I understand the frustration around delivering affordable housing solutions to students. Progress is slow, the process is highly political and it seems like all anyone ever does is talk about it. I would like to take this opportunity to assure all students that the SU is doing way more than talking about it, we are acting now.

The Students’ Union is advocating for the university to upgrade its on-campus housing capacity to 15 per cent of the full-time student population. This number is based on the demand for on-campus housing and the capacities of universities situated in similar housing markets.

Last year, in response to SU recommendations the university announced a new 600 bed residence facility. This facility will cost more than $100 million and securing capital funding to build it has proved challenging. The University would like to build more residence spaces on campus but needs capital funding from the government to make it a reality.

Currently the Students’ Union is commissioning an “Inter-Institutional Residence Feasibility Study” to look into an alternative form of student housing. This study will assess if an off-campus residence facility, shared by all of Calgary’s post-secondary students, would be a sustainable housing initiative.

An important component of this study is a housing needs analysis of students.

Arguably this should have been done a long time ago and probably by the government, but the SU is taking the lead on this issue and gathering information. With this data we will be in a much better position to justify the need for solutions from the government and the university.

The “ship” is on course and to “abandon ship” when we are finally gaining ground in addressing this issue would only further steer us in the wrong direction. While our ship may not sail as fast as we might like, we will arrive at our destination in due time.

If students are concerned or have questions on how the SU is actively addressing the housing issue please contact me at suvpext@ucalgary.ca