Land-Use Planning Approaches to Near-Campus Neighborhoods and Student Housing Development Patterns in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Student housing represents a contentious local policy issue in university cities in North America and beyond, related to both the conversion of existing housing to student rentals and the development of private purpose-built student accommodations. Yet little research has considered the variety of approaches municipalities across an urban system have adopted to address student housing issues through land-use planning and their subsequent influence on development patterns. Through an analysis of planning documents in all 15 Ontario urban areas with a primary campus of the province’s 20 public universities, we identify four broad approaches. These range from minimal intervention to covertly restricting student housing development, directing student housing away from established neighborhoods, and enabling high-density redevelopment of a residential district to accommodate students. Municipalities’ approaches reflect local context, notably their relationship to the province’s regional growth management plans. Case studies demonstrate how each approach has shaped purpose-built student accommodation development locally.

Keywords:

• Development
• near-campus neighborhoods
• planning
• purpose-built student accommodation
• student housing
• studentification

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editors of the journal, special issue guest editors, and anonymous reviewers for their suggestions to improve the paper. The authors also wish to acknowledge Tanja Curic, Clare Reipma, and students in the University of Waterloo School of Planning capstone project course for their early commentary and feedback on the manuscript. Errors and omissions remain the responsibility of the authors.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ottawa also has a greenbelt, but it is under the jurisdiction of the federal National Capital Commission rather than the Province of Ontario. London and Waterloo Region have established urban growth boundaries in local bylaws, but these boundaries remain unprotected through provincial legislation.

2 We have excluded the Université de Hearst, as it is a small federated college of Laurentian University, and the Royal Military College in Kingston. At the time of writing, the new Université de l’Ontario français (UOF) in Toronto had not yet admitted its first (small) cohort of students.

3 Laurentian University recently became the first public institution in Ontario to file for creditor protection and in April 2021 announced the termination of a staggering 69 academic programs and over 100 faculty.

4 Copies of documents cited in our analysis are available as a digital appendix, accessible at: https://osf.io/85fvd/?view_only=4f5853747ac84d2fa3244a7260f2186c

5 The exception is Windsor, which, having a softer housing market and a smaller university than most of its Southern Ontario peers, likely experiences less pressure on the rest of the local housing stock.

6 These policies are currently under appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal (formerly Local Planning Appeal Tribunal and Ontario Municipal Board), a provincial quasijudicial planning review body. Refer to file no. PL1210333 and LPAT PL170100 for more information.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nick Revington

Nick Revington is an assistant professor of Urban Studies in the Centre Urbanisation Culture Sociètè at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique in Montreal, Canada. His research interests include the political economy of housing markets, the residential geographies of students and young adults, and the urban impacts of universities.

Alexander James David Wray

Alexander Wray is a doctoral candidate in Geography & Environment at Western University, in London, Canada, researching healthy communities, local policy, and impact assessment. He is President of the Town and Gown Association of Ontario, an organization of post-secondary institutions, municipalities, student unions and community groups that facilitates institutional-community relationships.