HOUSE (Housing Ontario University Students Equitably) is a newly established provincial organization that is working to connect post-secondary institutions and young adult organizations across Ontario to create affordable housing. HOUSE provides its constituents with housing development expertise and advocacy support. As a part of HOUSE, we hold seats on its board and can leverage our collective power alongside other Ontario student housing organizations to create affordable housing for students.
HOUSE was started out of the StudentDwell TO Affordable Student Housing conference, held in April 2019 at York University. StudentDwellTO has a research and action project funded by York University, OCAD, Ryerson University and the University of Toronto to help address the student housing affordability crisis in Toronto. Our members played a big part in putting on the conference, securing funding and assisting with research on student housing. At the conference, our members connected with other organizations operating elsewhere in North America seeking to advance the cause of student housing affordability. HOUSE is modelled off UTILE, a similar non-profit affordable housing organization advocating for and developing affordable student housing. HOUSE was created with the support of UTILE and NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation).
HOUSE supports research, advocacy and development of student housing. The model is simple and designed to ensure that all the efforts of student housing advocacy does not go to waste when such students graduate. HOUSE is modelled as a member-organization, with local university housing committees, student unions and labour unions serving as members. HOUSE provides a mechanism to ensure institutional memory is preserved, advocacy work can continue beyond graduation, support can be provided to newly emerging student housing advocates and committees, and provide a central organization that can house the expertise to see a project to development and educate the next generation of students on housing advocacy and development.
