Staying in a hotel to study in Rimouski: “It’s a disappointment”

UQAR’s Rimouski campus is welcoming 123 more international students this year, but for some of these students, it is still difficult to find housing. Sidy Diouf, 23, started his academic year while staying in a hotel.

Sidy Diouf is one of the few foreign students who agreed to give us an interview.

This young man from Dakar, Senegal, is studying computer science at the University of Quebec in Rimouski.

He arrived in Canada at the end of the summer. He spent a few weeks with a friend in Trois-Rivières before arriving in Rimouski on August 24.

His search for housing was unsuccessful. He was forced to stay at the Normandie Hotel, near the port of Rimouski. He paid $750 a month for a room without a kitchen. He ordered meals or went to restaurants to eat. It was a lifestyle that was out of his budget.

It’s disillusionmenthe told us when we met him. We thought that once we arrived, our situation would be easier.

Sometimes I talk to friends about it, and they tell me that at first it’s difficult, but hey, maybe in the long run it will be easier.

Sidy Diouf is not alone in this situation, according to Daniel Bélanger, of the Rimouski-Neigette Housing Office, which offers an emergency telephone service to help people find housing, the SARL.

Since the beginning of September, a dozen students have contacted this organization to ask for help finding accommodation.

Daniel Bélanger notes that foreign students who do not have a knowledge of the environment seek support from their peers.

We are aware that there are people who are staying with other students; they will never call us.he agrees.

Even more foreign students this year

These students who come from abroad to study at university in Rimouski are 849 to be registered this year, an increase of 16% compared to last year.

During our visit to the campus, students also told us that they had found accommodation for only a few months.

At the Université du Québec à Rimouski, the director of student community services, Jean-François Ouellet, says that the establishment informs foreign students of the housing shortage raging in Rimouski.

At present, there is no data that would allow the University to know whether one or more students are without accommodation.

Every student from abroad must meet with the University’s social work technician for the administrative formalities related to opening their student file.

At this time, students are guided to available housing support resources.

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The Rimouski-Neigette Housing Office notes that the housing crisis raging in Rimouski has particularly affected foreign students for the past two years.

For her part, the director of the Auberge du Coeur Le Transit, Lynda Lepage, confirmed to us that this organization has already exceptionally temporarily housed foreign students without housing. She had to refuse to house any this year, simply because this is not the clientele of this organization that works with youth at risk or in situations of homelessness.

The director of student community services, Jean-François Ouellet, is hopeful that the next academic year will be less complicated for finding accommodation.

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In my opinion, we have reached rock bottom.he said, specifying that work is underway on the campus of theUQAR in Rimouski to offer more housing to students.

A residence that will be able to accommodate around a hundred students is under construction and an old building with 34 rooms that previously belonged to the Ursulines is being renovated to accommodate students.

The Rimouski rental market will not, however, return to balance anytime soon. The housing vacancy rate is 0.6% in Rimouski. According to the City of Rimouski, the construction of 2,000 housing units will be necessary to return to a balanced market.