If they are not part of the housing crisis solution then they are definitely part of the problem. For those of us just starting and moving into the province to work here, even renting has become like the Hunger Games. People are now outbidding each other for rentals and if it is a problem for some professors to secure a place, I cannot imagine what it is like for blue collar families and low-income students. But surely the university has opted for profit rather than affordability and compassion.
We get $50 K to help with a mortgage but this is after we pay up about $40K from our own pockets to make a deal and there are all these prohibitive stipulations with these monies that make it actually useless, particularly right now with high interest rates and investors that easily outbid people just wanting to have one secure place to live.
Thanks for starting this conversation Nicholas!
Dr. Evelyn Encalada Grez (she/her/ella)
[Latinx] Assistant Professor
Labour Studies-Sociology & Anthropology
I acknowledge the beautiful unceded lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, səl̓ilw̓ ətaʔɬ, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm & kʷikʷəƛ ̓ əm nations in which I live and work & strive to respectfully &
tangibly support.
Simon Fraser University | Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/evgrez | eencalad@sfu.ca
Campus phone number: +1-778-782-3657
Justice for Migrant Workers: https://twitter.com/j4mw
Sent: September 10, 2022 12:17:57 PM
To: H.K. Andersen
Cc: Evelyn Encalada Grez; academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: UniverCity $
On Sep 10, 2022, at 12:11 PM, H.K. Andersen <handerse@sfu.ca> wrote:
The University actually had the opportunity to make the last housing development on the mountain exactly this way, with affordable units targeted for faculty and staff, and more units for families with kids. The University representatives on the Trust actually decided against doing this, and went for something where there was just more cash in the bank, more per square footage from the developer who took the lease. They chose that over the longer term benefit of facilitating the work life balance and informal interactions of staff and faculty that, in my view, have done far more overall in terms of what we bring to SFU.
I will also note that the amount of money that the Trust under Gordon Harris brought to SFU from the endowment lands was something around half per square foot of leased-out land when compared to UBC.
These statistics are available in Trust minutes and documentation; I don't know if those are requestable through freedom of information, but maybe someone here knows more about that than I do.
Holly Andersen
From: Evelyn Encalada Grez <evelyn_encalada_grez@sfu.ca>
Sent: September 10, 2022 11:37:33 AM
To: Nicholas Blomley; academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: UniverCity $Good question and with all the monies made the university could well afforded to build long term affordable housing for faculty and staff.
Best,
Dr. Evelyn Encalada Grez (she/her/ella)
[Latinx] Assistant Professor
Labour Studies-Sociology & Anthropology
I acknowledge the beautiful unceded lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, səl̓ilw̓ ətaʔɬ, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm & kʷikʷəƛ ̓ əm nations in which I live and work & strive to respectfully & tangibly support.
Simon Fraser University | Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/evgrez | eencalad@sfu.ca
Campus phone number: +1-778-782-3657
Justice for Migrant Workers: https://twitter.com/j4mw
From: Nicholas Blomley <blomley@sfu.ca>
Sent: September 4, 2022 2:45:05 PM
To: academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Subject: UniverCity $I am interested to determine how much money the UniverCity project has generated for the University since its inception (or at least, annually, over the past few years)? I know of the Community Trust Endowment Fund, which generated some milllions of dollars. But is this the only revenue that flows to university coffers (e.g. through leases to developers)?
Nick Blomley