By: Niveja Assalaarachchi, News Writer

On October 9, the Vancouver Tenants Union’s UBC chapter (UBC-VTU) issued ten demands for the UBC Housing authority. The proposals call on UBC Housing to enact tenant protections, establish rent controls, and build equitable housing construction, among other demands.

The UBC-VTU advocates for fairer housing standards for students, often incorporating student testimony into their campaigns. They have organized around housing issues in the Lower Mainland, such as their advocacy against housing displacement and large-scale building projects in Vancouver.

The Peak interviewed Keegan Colwell, a member of the UBC-VTU. “Right now, there are truly no rights for tenants at UBC,” he said. UBC Housing “can raise your rent as much as they want [ . . . ] maintenance can enter without notice, people can be evicted with only five days’ notice for no stated reason, and a lot of these basic rights that you’d expect for housing in most of the provinces in the country we don’t have here at all.” 

UBC has been separate from the Residential Tenancy Act since 2002. In an Instagram post, the UBC-VTU explained that the Act was “deemed unsuitable for student housing as it does not allow an institution to reserve housing for the exclusive use of students. No alternate legislation was put into place.” UBC’s student government from 2015 described the situation similarly. The cost of rent on campus has been a key concern at UBC. The most significant hike happened in 2023, when the university raised residence rent by up to 8%, depending on the unit. The provincial government set a 3% limit on rent hikes as of January 1, 2025.

“It doesn’t have to be like this. As a student, as a person, you have the right to a place to live, you have a right to a safe and secure place to live,” he said.

“The reason that it is like this is not some inevitability, it is because it is designed in a way to extract profit off people.”

— Keegan Colwell, member of the Vancouver Tenants Union, UBC chapter

The UBC-VTU’s proposals are supported by CUPE 2278, a labour union representing UBC teaching assistants and other teaching staff, and the UBC Social Justice Centre. 

As part of their demands, the UBC-VTU have called on UBC housing to enact rent freezes and annual caps on rent increases as a part of any potential tenancy residential agreement. According to a survey by the UBC student government, 52% of student respondents reported facing financial hardship due to housing costs. The article also pointed out that 4% of student respondents “reported that they lacked a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence at some point while being a student at UBC.”

SFU is also separate from the Residential Tenancy Act. After not receiving a response from the SFU Residence Hall Association (RHA), The Peak reached out to Vinisha Kadyan, the new president of the RHA as of October. Kadyan shared that “many SFU residents share similar concerns” as it relates to SFU Residence in terms of “affordability, transparency, and having a say in housing decisions.” She said a tenancy policy at SFU “would ease stress and show SFU values student well-being.” Kadyan also said pushing for a rent freeze is a “growing conversation.” Kadyan added, “It’s not anti-university, it’s about making residence more accessible and reducing financial pressure.” 

Colwell mentioned how his organization was scheduled to meet with Andrew Parr, UBC’s associate vice president of student housing and community services, to discuss potential ways to uplift the lives of UBC tenants. Colwell also said his organization would continue to petition and campaign their message to UBC housing. This has been seen with the UBC-VTU’s recent “march for housing justice,” which took place on October 14.