Students that are choosing to live in Cambridge are facing more issues than just trying to find a place; some have been subjected to what student advocates are calling inhumane and exploitative situations.
When travelling to a new country for school, the last thing students think will happen is they will feel like they are being held hostage in a lease and be mislead into potentially dangerous living situations.
A student who is attending Conestoga College and currently living in Cambridge said he was lied to by his landlord after signing a lease for what he thought was a shared room with one person.
When he showed up, it turned into a living situation where three people were stuffed into a small room of a house and others were sleeping wherever they could.
"The room is so small that there is barely any room for us to move around," said the student who asked to remain anonymous, due to fear of backlash from his landlord.
The Cambridge student said he only signed the lease because he was running out of time to find housing in the midst of a housing shortage. Securing a space pushed him into an uncomfortable situation.
"I am right now paying over $500 for my space in my room and we have six people living here," said the student. "There is hardly any common space so trying to get anything done here is nearly impossible."
The students sleep on mattresses on the floor and at times there is so much garbage, it doesn't feel like they are living in a home, the student added.
This is a scenario Conestoga Students Inc. (CSI) has seen on the rise over the past two years.
Current president for CSI Sana Banu said she has seen students in Cambridge subjected to what she calls slumlords, bad actors and rental units infested with bed bugs and other pests.
"What we are seeing and hearing from students in Cambridge is just absolutely appalling," said Banu. "To think that there are people out there who will rent these units and stuff students into small rooms without their knowledge is incomprehensible."
According to a survey of Conestoga College students conducted by Banu and her team, 46 per cent are living in a unit with four or more people and over 20 per cent are sharing rooms with one or more people.
"There are a lot of misinformation and scams happening involving international students," Banu said. "Because they are not here to see the unit in person and they may have no credit, they are being targeted and taken advantage of."
Umair Ali, CSI associate vice-president, noted that landlords will come up with demands or requirements of the tenants that are absurd, making the students feel insecure and afraid.
"The students will be threatened with eviction or even deportation if they complain or report the homeowner," Ali said. "The international students come here alone with no support and feel like they are being backed into a corner they can't get out of."
Ali adds that the number of people that could be in a unit might be four to five times higher than what was promised to the renter.
CSI has been meeting with members of Cambridge city council, including councillors Sheri Roberts, Corey Kimpson and Mayor Jan Liggett.
Councillor Roberts said it is still early days, but no course of action is being ruled out to help students.
"Sometimes these international students come here and they don't have any friends with them or family, but we want to make sure we show up for them and help anyway we can," she said.
The city is in the information gathering stage and will decide how to move forward, but recommends students contact their local ward councillor or call the fire department if they think their unit is unsafe.
Eric Yates, chief fire prevention officer for the Cambridge Fire Department has seen an increase of calls about unsafe living situations since the return of in-person schooling.
"You'll see mattresses or sleeping bags laid out wherever they can put them, unfortunately," said Yates. "If there are too many people in a unit, it can be a fire hazard and at that point fire would need to step in."
Cambridge by-law states that maximum number of occupants in a dwelling unit is based on two persons per bedroom. This means if there is a two-bedroom unit, only four people can be living in the entire apartment.
CSI said they have seen numerous cases of up to six or seven people living in two-bedroom units.
There is another by-law that is broken quite frequently; units infested with pests.
Banu calls this violation of city by-law the tip of the iceberg and recalls a situation where an international student moved into her apartment, only to find it completely overrun with bed bugs.
"This experience caused her to have massive mental health issues as she had to get rid of all her things and exhausted her money just to pay for high-temp laundry," Banu said. "She was sleeping on the cold floor, because she had nothing."
The student was then forced to pay for pest control, despite the bugs being there prior to her arrival.
The student then left Canada, but instead of an education she headed home with trauma and a grim sense of the student life here in the city.
These issues also point to a lack of information about rights as a renter and basic human needs.
Ali thinks that the lack of knowledge mixed with the fear of losing out on needed boarding will cause students to often remain silent.
"We need to be their voice and stand up for them, even if they can't do it themselves," he added. "No one should be doing this and partaking in this practice of inhumane treatment."
CSI is launching a campaign to inform students about their rights with the hopes of holding these bad actors accountable for their treatment of students.
"I really hope my story can shine a light on what is going on here and how we are being treated," said the student. "I just wanted to come to school in Canada and learn, but I'm not going to let this terrible experience ruin how I see the country, because not everyone is like this."
