Government raises financial requirements for study permit applicants and invests over $5m in community housing initiatives
Canada is taking new steps to address its growing housing crisis by tightening its financial requirements for international students and increasing investment in community housing solutions.
The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that the financial requirement for international students will increase by 11%, up from $20,635 to $22,895, starting September 1, applying to all provinces and territories except Quebec. The updated threshold is intended to better reflect the cost of living in Canada for a one-year period.
To qualify for a study permit, students must show proof of funds through documents such as bank account statements, Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs), sponsorship letters, scholarship proofs, or four months of recent bank statements.
Those arriving with family members must demonstrate additional financial support – $28,502 for two people and $35,040 for three.
According to the IRCC, this policy aims to help manage the increasing number of international students in Canada, which surged past one million in 2023, more than double the number from just three years prior. Authorities say this growth has added significant strain on Canada’s housing market and public services.
Read more: Could population decline spell trouble for Canada’s housing market?
Community housing research
In a parallel effort to improve housing affordability, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said it will invest over $5 million to community housing research to boost affordable housing supply.
Funding will support 20 selected projects through the Demonstration Initiative and Solutions Labs Program.
The projects will explore new strategies to unlock capital, pool resources, adopt innovative housing models, and secure land to strengthen the community housing sector’s capacity to deliver affordable options.
These initiatives aim to tackle systemic barriers in financing, land acquisition, development, construction, operation, and replication – obstacles that often affect non-profit and community housing providers more acutely than their private-sector counterparts.
“We need to accelerate the development of non-market housing. It is going to take bold new ideas, like the ones announced today, to move the needle in a meaningful way on housing,” housing minister Gregor Robertson said in a statement. “Our government will continue investing in the affordable housing sector and in innovative organizations who pick up the challenge of building a better housing continuum for all Canadians.”
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