Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Amandalina Letterio

Thompson Rivers University

TRU finds short-term solution to student housing crisis

Sep 29, 2021 | 3:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Thompson Rivers University (TRU) has come up with a short-term solution for its international students who are struggling to find housing in Kamloops.

The university has inked an agreement with local hotels and motels that will offer students discounted rooms until December.

TRU is also offering emergency bursaries to its students to help pay for the stay.

The university says it is a short-term plan, but it gives them some time to continue working on a long-term solution for the unexpected problem.

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“We’re actually down 1,000 students on campus, so 1,000 fewer than we had in 2019,” explained Matt Milovick, vice-president of administration and finance at TRU.

“It wasn’t until the second week of August, that we started to hear we had a housing problem. The first week of August, we had 40 empty beds and then all of a sudden there were none,” Milovick continued.

Recently, the City of Kamloops rejected TRU’s plans to build an emergency modular home on its campus for students, stating it was not up to BC Housing Standards.

The university is considering expanding its student housing, but it wants to be sure there is a long-term market for student housing before making that investment.

“We played every card we had at our disposal to see if we could accommodate them,” Milovick told CFJC News.

“And we’re going to continue to do that, because I think that’s the kind of institution we are. We want to see our students settled in safe, affordable accommodation,” he said.