Why Toronto's housing crisis could become a 'vulnerability' for one downtown college

When Halah Al-Jumaili arrived in Canada in January, the George Brown College student was plunged into the deep end of Toronto's precarious housing market. 

The finance student, originally from Iraq, knew the market would be difficult, but she says it took her a month to find a crowded two-bedroom apartment to share with two other students. The living room had been converted into a third bedroom by the landlord and rent for each student was $1,250 a month. 

"There was no privacy," she said. "I could hear all my friends' conversations. So, I didn't feel like it was even a place I could study."

For the next seven months, Al-Jumaili juggled her classes and a part-time job with a full-time hunt for a better place to live. Often landlords wouldn't return calls or messages, other times the places were in bad shape. Still others required a full years' rent upfront to even be considered for the space.

"It was so difficult, so challenging," she said.

She'd focused on living downtown near the college when she first arrived because she didn't know the city well. But police were a regular fixture at her building and security was lax, she recalls.

"I tried as much as I could to move away from it because it did not feel safe at all," she said. 

Al-Jumaili's story is a familiar one to administrators at George Brown, says former city councillor and one of the school's current vice-presidents, Joe Cressy. 

That's why the downtown school has spent months talking to students, workers and community members about the housing crisis and how it impacts the campus. A task force formed to conduct that research and find solutions will issue its first findings on Monday.

"George Brown's position in downtown Toronto may become a strategic vulnerability due to the housing crisis, but it can also be a strategic opportunity if we help solve it with our partners," the report notes.

Cressy said while the college can't solve the problem by itself, it also can't ignore it.

"If we're going to succeed as an institution, if we're going to succeed as a city, we need to provide more housing options to workers and students alike," he said.

After months of research, the report, which was provided exclusively to CBC Toronto, highlights the growing challenge housing affordability poses for the school. George Brown's location in the heart of the city — which was once a key advantage — now means students and staff can't afford to live near the campus and must commute a further distance to it.

The college surveyed 770 students in creating the report and found the crisis has forced students to pay exorbitant rents in spaces that are often unsafe. Others take on multiple jobs in addition to their school schedule to pay the rent. Half of the students surveyed have a commute of at least an hour to get to campus.