Fredericton's housing crisis prevents immigrants like me from pursuing a Canadian dream

This column is an opinion by Arun Budhathoki, a Nepalese writer and graduate student living in Fredericton. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

In September, I returned to Fredericton to continue my education, having been away from Canada for six years.

When I looked at the rental market, I could not believe how much things have changed — and also how sky-high rents are hurting the very newcomers the New Brunswick government wants to attract.

My journey from Nepal had been difficult, and I fell sick for a week. It wasn't COVID-19, thankfully. An old Canadian friend had generously picked me up from the Fredericton airport and let me stay with him as I recovered from the viral fever.

I search online for a room to rent, and to my utter disbelief I saw how prices had skyrocketed from what I encountered when I first came here, in 2013.

I asked my friend: what kind of immigrants does New Brunswick want? Is it just white-collar, cash-loaded newcomers who can afford the housing? What happens to lower-income newcomers who are captivated by the Canadian dream?

When I lived here before, during 2013-15, I paid about $300 to rent a room in a house. Of course, I understand things can change after five or six years.

A single room now rents from at least $500 and even rooms on the north side are above that. This amount may not be high in Canada, but that is a high monthly salary back in Nepal.

I should explain what took me away from Fredericton six years ago. When the news of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake hit me, my mind froze like the wintry St. John River. That year was probably the lowest in my life; later, there was a suicide in our extended family, and my parents were corralled by a political group and almost killed during the elections.

Far away from home, I was not able to digest it. A sense of responsibility troubled my conscience. When I was invited to read from my book Prisoner of an iPad: New Poems at an international book fair, I boarded a flight from Toronto and left Canada, always hoping to return.

One year's leave from the University of New Brunswick extended to four more, because of several circumstances. It was not easy for me to leave my family behind.

When I ask around about high rents, the typical answer involves COVID-19. It is also true that many folks from Ontario have moved to Fredericton during the pandemic, seeking lower house prices and the ability to work from their new homes. Realtors love this, I presume.

I wrote to my university about affordable housing, but they said they could do nothing about it, and it was the harsh reality that international students need to face.

I wrote to the City of Fredericton. A reply said Mayor Kate Rogers has set up the Fredericton Affordable Housing Advisory Committee and developed a housing needs assessment/strategy for the city, although it also said that they had no immediate solutions.