What is Housing Now?

According to our 2022 Affordability Survey, students’ top concern is high housing costs. Your student union works hard to ensure that housing is affordable and accessible for UVIC students. In 2022, we launched our Housing Now! Campaign, calling on the Province and UVIC to take radical action on housing. We strongly advocated for a Missing Middle Housing Initiative in Victoria, which will ensure housing supply for future students and community members. We also saw Oak Bay complete our long-term lobbying goal of legalising secondary suites and roommates, securing the tenancy of many students who had previously lived in Oak Bay basement suites. The UVSS was instrumental in increasing the number of non-related roommates allowed in Saanich from 4 to 6 in 2020.

Our campaign began as Rent With Rights and has since evolved into our primary demand: Housing Now!

We held our Housing Now! event in October, where we waved our collaborative banner filled with housing horror stories in front of the Legislature, followed by these demands for safe, affordable housing for students. Housing is a human right, and no one should have to live in dangerous conditions.

We would love to hear from you! Do you have a housing horror story to tell? Is there anything else you would like to see your student union do to help students with housing security? If so email the Director of Campaigns and Community Relations: campaigns@uvss.ca