Sheridan College will launch a new pilot program in September 2020, converting some of its existing two-bed residence units into quads at its Brampton campus as the city continues to deal with a serious shortage of student and affordable housing.

The pilot will start small, involving the conversion of four rooms at the college’s Davis Campus located on McLaughlin Road in Brampton.

The idea, said vice-president of student enrolment and strategic management Carol Altilia, is to provide more affordable housing options, especially for international students who pay significantly higher tuition fees than their domestic counterparts.

“It affords a much lower cost option for students (of) just over 50 per cent and affords those students all of the benefits of being in residence,” said Altilia.

She adds that while the college believes quad rooms will be more popular among international students, the pilot will also be open to domestic students.

“We believe this will be most attractive to international students, who are very cost sensitive around their housing. It also has to do with some expectations of domestic students about traditional residence configurations as well,” Altilia said.

The population at Davis Campus is around 12,000 students, with a 60-40 per cent split between domestic and international pupils. There are currently 350 residence spaces available at the campus, which Altilia said are mostly occupied by students from abroad.

Brampton council has voiced serious concerns about a growing student housing problem as local post-secondary education providers such as Sheridan and Algoma University continue to grow both their domestic and international student populations.

“Sheridan is well aware of my concerns with housing, especially in the area around Sheridan College,” said Coun. Jeff Bowman, who represents wards 3 and 4, where David Campus is located. “The area around Sheridan College represents an opportunity for student housing, but it also represents a huge opportunity for unsafe student housing in some of these homes.”

“You can ask every councillor up here. We all knocked on doors during the election and found a lot of houses that had 15, 17 students living in that house. International students,” said wards 2 and 6 Coun. Michael Palleschi at an earlier meeting.