Finding a place to live can be stressful at the best of times.
For students juggling classes and a job, or looking for a place of their own for the first time, it can be even more daunting, according to Pearl Karimalis, coordinator of the Student Housing Service.
For students who will be away from the city for the summer and are planning to sublet an apartment for the summer months or for students looking for a place to sublet, the Housing Service is planning two annual “Sublet Saturday” events in March and April. Karimalis says these events, which are advertised at other Ontario universities, are quite popular.
The Student Housing Service is a resource centre designed to help all students at U of T with housing issues. The centre provides rental listings, help with housing search, and basic legal information to those looking for accommodation as well as help with housing emergencies.
In order to help students access these resources, the student housing website was recently redesigned.
“More and more students are using the web, so we’ve put more information and features on the site. We’re trying to give them as much as we can on the web,” says Karimalis, noting the addition of features for new online registration for activity programs in U of T family housing and links to other tenant resource sites.
In September of 2001 the university bought two apartment buildings at 30 and 35 Charles St., between Bay and Yonge, which have served as student family housing and are administered by the Housing Service. Demand for these units is very high, says Karimalis. “There is a long wait for student family housing—usually about 12 to 16 months.”
For students having problems or a dispute with a landlord, the Housing Service can provide counseling and advice and referral to free legal aid if necessary. The organization also works closely with other campus services to address students’ needs.
“Sometimes a landlord will discriminate against a student family with children. We can help them there,” says Karimalis.
A more common student concern is high rents. “The last two years rents have gone up dramatically, though it’s slowed down somewhat recently,” says Karimalis, noting that planning ahead is important.
Students planning on moving out of an apartment at the end of the semester should be preparing now, according to Karimalis
“If a student is looking to leave on April 30, they should be giving their landlord notice. A lot of students don’t know to give 60 days notice, or they’ve often forgotten about it.”
As a final message, Karimalis adds that students with any questions or concerns about housing can just walk in and Housing Service staff will be happy to help.
