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It has long been difficult to obtain detailed information on the residential living conditions of the student population. Existing rental market data (produced by the CMHC) does not identify student households, while Statistics Canada’s demographics provide few details on residential situations. UTILE is the only organization in Canada to have documented the realities of student tenants, thus providing an unprecedented portrait of the post-secondary housing landscape.
FLASH 2021
The FLASH 2021 is the first Canada-wide edition of the survey conducted by UTILE.
Facilitated by 71 partnerships with universities and student organizations across the country, UTILE was able to survey nearly one million students in all of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories.
Research and thematic reports can be found in the News section of our website, as they are published.
The first edition of the PHARE (la Prospection des habitudes et aspirations résidentielles étudiantes) survey was conducted in 2014. Initiated by UTILE, the survey collected 11,000 responses across four university campuses and led to several research projects. A second edition took place in 2017, collecting over 17,000 responses across Quebec. The resulting research has been cited in media outlets in many regions, in briefs produced by student societies, and used in a study funded by the Société d'habitation du Québec, among others. Given the impact of the data, the partners agreed to maintain a three-year cycle for the university survey. In 2019, UTILE coordinated the first PHARE survey at the college level.
Island of Montreal
Ratios
86 % of students are renters.
80 % of students rent on the private market.
Precarity
71 % of student renters in Montreal allocate more than 30% of their annual budget towards rent.
