{"id":25640,"date":"2024-07-31T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=25640"},"modified":"2024-08-15T09:41:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T16:41:28","slug":"camosun-gets-funding-for-on-campus-residences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2024\/07\/31\/camosun-gets-funding-for-on-campus-residences\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun gets funding for on-campus residences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Camosun College students will soon have the opportunity to call its Lansdowne campus home for the first time. Announced on Wednesday, July 17, $151.7 million in provincial funding\u2014and a $3 million contribution from Camosun\u2014has been approved to build an on-campus residence for students.<\/p>\n

The building\u2014to be constructed over part of the parking lot off Foul Bay Road\u2014is set to open in fall 2027, and the college says it will provide affordable and accessible housing to students. The six-storey housing project will have 423 beds in a combination of single (dorm style), studio (single suite), and quad (four-bedroom apartment-style) units. Additionally, the facility will include amenities such as utilities, security, internet, and furniture.<\/p>\n

Unit rental rates will be decided closer to the project completion, but the college intends for them to be comparable to student housing at other post-secondary institutions and below Victoria\u2019s market rate.<\/p>\n

Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) women\u2019s director Olivia Bult says the CCSS is excited for the introduction of student housing on campus\u2014a project they\u2019ve long championed.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudent housing is something that\u2019s been on [the CCSS] agenda for quite some time,\u201d says Bult, who is also an Arts and Science student. \u201cIt\u2019s something that we want to advocate for students, including students who are more vulnerable or international students who are struggling just to get the most out of their college experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Camosun College Student Society women\u2019s director Olivia Bult speaks at the funding announcement on July 17 at Camosun\u2019s Lansdowne campus (photo by Camosun College).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Camosun executive director of communications and marketing Rodney Porter says the college is looking forward to transforming the campus community while also easing housing concerns for students in Victoria.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible news for students in the college community,\u201d he says. \u201cThis has been in the works for a while, so having the BC government give the green light is very welcome news indeed, and I think everyone was positively thrilled. Finding affordable housing, we know it\u2019s a serious challenge for students from the Capital Regional District and also for students especially who are coming from outside of the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, Camosun organized two community open houses at the Lansdowne campus in addition to an online survey. Porter says the college is \u201ccommitted to being a good neighbour,\u201d taking steps to consider all parties involved in the project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we\u2019re going to be doing as the next step is procuring a professional project management services team for the design and development,\u201d he says. \u201cSo once we have that design team in place, we\u2019ll be undertaking additional engagement with the neighbours in the community with stakeholders, community groups, review and input on the proposed design of the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter says as the project is currently three years out, there\u2019s a lot of planning yet to be developed. He says the college is focused on ensuring best practices for safety measures and the well-being of students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an awful lot that needs to happen between now and then, and that includes developing the policies, the processes, to get that in place, to develop everything from application processes to making sure that the housing is safe, making sure it\u2019s secure, having all those policies in place to ensure it\u2019s not just… housing,\u201d says Porter. \u201cThere needs to be the accompanying policies. So we will be giving a great deal of thought to developing those policies and making sure they\u2019re in place in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rendering of the proposed residence building bordering Foul Bay Road with existing parking around the property (image courtesy of Camosun College).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Units will be available for all Camosun students\u2014both domestic and international. However, Porter says the college will be prioritizing Indigenous learners as well as former youth-in-care students in their yet-to-be developed eligibility policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the student housing is going to be available to students from both campuses,\u201d he says. \u201cWe also will be prioritizing Indigenous learners and former youth-in-care students… We have to build those policies as much as we have to put up a physical building. But it has to be fair, it has to be equitable. 423 beds sounds like a lot, but we\u2019ve got thousands of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bult anticipates the facility will boost student life on campus and foster a community environment at Camosun. She believes that with continued efforts to develop and plan the project further, Camosun will be able to maximize the benefit and reduce risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce it\u2019s in effect, I believe that it will change the dynamic of the campus quite a lot. I think that it\u2019s going to increase engagement and community on campus,\u201d she says. \u201cI think that it\u2019s an amazing resource for a significant percentage of the students that Camosun can take in, and it\u2019s just going to kind of amplify that experience so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Camosun College students will soon have the opportunity to call its Lansdowne campus home for the first time. Announced on Wednesday, July 17, $151.7 million in provincial funding\u2014and a $3 million contribution from Camosun\u2014has been approved to build an on-campus residence for students. The building\u2014to be constructed over part of the parking lot off Foul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,315],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-august-7-2024"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25658,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25640\/revisions\/25658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}