Pedestrians walk past the new GEO student housing building in Kingston on May 1. The city exceeded its housing target last year, in part because of one of the student buildings currently under construction.James Paddle-Grant/The Globe and Mail
A crane looms over workers on the roof of a concrete shell of an apartment building under construction in Kingston, open gaps for windows blocked with wood and metal fencing.
Across the street, an 11-storey tower is nearing completion, its café-style lobby enveloped in dust and a lingering new furniture smell.
This two-phase development is the latest manifestation of a push to increase residential supply by adding density in Kingston, efforts officials promote as strengthening the Ontario city’s historic central core while responding to the housing crisis.
But the city of roughly 130,000 is growing denser in a way that is proving especially controversial: high-rise apartment buildings catering to students. Opponents say the complexes disrupt the balance of central neighbourhoods, bringing loud parties and increased traffic congestion.
In the past few years, three de facto student housing towers have gone up on main streets in Williamsville, a neighbourhood about a 20-minute walk from Queen’s University. Another is under construction and work on a fifth is slated to begin closer to downtown next year. In total, the privately managed buildings will have more than 1,100 apartments featuring furnished units, individual leases, study nooks and help mediating roommate conflicts.
The city’s building spree, which includes a range of housing types, has not gone unnoticed. Kingston exceeded its housing target last year, ranking among the strongest-performing Ontario cities, in part because of one of the student buildings currently under construction.
Kingston created 1,465 new homes last year – 2.5 times its target – earning a $3.2-million bonus from the provincial government, which assigned municipalities targets to spur increased supply. The student building’s 176 apartments represent 12 per cent of the city’s total new housing units.
Mayor Bryan Paterson said Kingston’s outperformance is a result of the city’s “concerted effort” to encourage new housing, including by treating builders and non-profit agencies as partners because they control decisions to break ground after securing approvals.
“At the end of the day, we’re only going to succeed or fail together,” he said in a recent interview in his office overlooking the waterfront.
Mr. Paterson calls the high-rise residential developments that now dot the city, including the student properties by Podium Developments, a “breakthrough,” noting they followed intense debates about protecting Kingston’s heritage downtown. “For years and years, I think there was a fight over height and always a fight to try to make a building as low as possible,” he said.
That changed, Mr. Paterson said, after he and other proponents were able to amass political support for sustaining the downtown by adding residents in tall condos and apartment buildings in pockets of the city’s core. The student housing buildings also brought welcome renewal to Williamsville, he said, which was dominated by used-car lots and gas stations.
Queen’s University students Michael Rioux, left, and Isabelle Azulay move into the newly constructed GEO building in Kingston on May 1.James Paddle-Grant/The Globe and Mail
However, Kingston’s embrace of density has upset some local residents, who say that while the city may be getting taller, the equilibrium of its established central neighbourhoods is being disrupted by hundreds of students in towers.
“It’s about balance,” said Lea Westlake, who teaches English to immigrants. “It’s about a tipping point. How many is too many?”
Ms. Westlake and other critics say student complexes bring loud partying and traffic congestion from food and package delivery vehicles to neighbourhoods. However, she added that she is not opposed to increased density and would welcome traditional apartment buildings and affordable housing projects.
She helped lead community opposition to a proposed high-rise Podium apartment downtown, which the developer took to the Ontario Land Tribunal because of the city’s delay in deciding on its rezoning application. The parties negotiated a settlement last year, which included Podium slightly lowering the height to 15 storeys, reducing the number of units and providing money for affordable housing.
For Podium’s part, an official says the company’s properties actually help protect Kingston’s established neighbourhoods by drawing students to professionally managed buildings so fewer young people rent houses on residential streets, where their late hours and parties disturb neighbours.
“I think that’s actually the benefit of that asset class is that it structures and pulls those people out of the areas with less oversight,” said Christian Huggett, managing director and head of development at Podium.
While anyone can rent apartments in Podium’s properties, Mr. Huggett said 80 to 90 per cent of tenants are students.
The developer targets students with fully furnished units that are leased per bedroom, rather than by the entire apartment. If needed, the property management company assigns roommates and mediates conflicts. Podium’s newest building, which welcomed residents earlier this month, has study rooms on each floor and a parent section on its website.
Rents are steep, however, and start around $1,400 per person for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom unit.
Kingston’s rental market is tight, with a vacancy rate of less than 1 per cent for purpose-built rental housing in the region last October, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Queen’s University “works collaboratively” with the city and private landlords and is planning to increase its housing options, spokeswoman Julie Brown said in an e-mail.
However, because of increased enrolment and renovation projects, Queen’s is not able to guarantee residence spots to all first-year students starting in the fall, Ms. Brown said. Instead, those who received admission offers by mid-April and meet the deposit deadline will be able to secure a room.
For students, finding affordable housing in Kingston is stressful and often begins months in advance, said Helena Shimwell, who is entering her fourth year of political studies at Queen’s.
Ms. Shimwell, who moved into a house with roommates near campus earlier this month, has friends who live in the high-rise student developments but said they’re out of her budget.
“Finding a place to live in Kingston right now is very difficult just because of the number of students looking at the same time,” she said. “It’s just so competitive and daunting.”