FEDERATION FOR THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Canada has a Big Student Homelessness Problem: It's Time to Do Something About It, Says University of Alberta Researcher

 With an estimated 28% of Canadian post-secondary students experiencing some form of homelessness, Canada is facing a crisis. Yet, because most affected students conceal their situation due to stigma, the issue is difficult to address and in dire need of attention by government and universities across the country.

That's the message of Emily Berg, a PhD student at the University of Alberta (U of A) and lead research associate in a recent national study on student homelessness. Berg will present findings of the study, as well as strategies her team has developed to help combat the issue, at the upcoming Big Thinking Summit: Inflection Point, a national academic gathering focused on the humanities and social sciences, taking place June 9 to 11 in Edmonton.

Organized by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Big Thinking Summit: Inflection Point brings together scholars, policymakers, community leaders, and institutional partners to examine the urgent questions shaping Canada's future. Featuring keynote conversations, research presentations, evidence-focused sessions, and networking events, it is designed to advance the role of humanities and social sciences knowledge in public life.

At the event, Berg will share details of her group's research that involved interviews with 65 students experiencing homelessness and 54 academic staff members at six universities across Canada: University of Alberta, Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP), Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), University of New Brunswick (UNB), Lakehead University, and University of British Columbia, with the bulk of those surveyed in Alberta and Nova Scotia. Key project researchers also included Principal Investigator Dr. Eric Weissman (UNB), Kevin Friese (U of A), Dr. Krista Robson (RDP), and Lisa Mader (NSCC). Their work builds on an earlier national survey of 18,500 post-secondary students by UTILE that found alarming data on student housing.

The hour-long interviews - conducted during the 2022-2023 academic year - covered students' experiences and impacts related to homelessness and barriers they faced in getting help. Staff were questioned about potential solutions and obstacles to boosting university funding for basic student needs such as access to housing, rent money and food.

"Universities are seen in an elite academic way where everyone who goes there is privileged, but this isn't the case," Berg explained. "Institutions today are the gateway to any sort of job, so students have to go to university regardless of their economic status, even if they can't afford to pay rent or eat," she said.

The result? Those struggling often rely on hidden homelessness tactics such as couch-surfing, sleeping in cars, or sheltering in campus buildings, stairwells or libraries - which are less visible than "living rough" on the streets, but carry an equally heavy mental health toll.

All study respondents reported that institutional support was lacking, with many admitting to having reached out to numerous campus services for help without success, Berg said. She echoed feedback from one student who shared that "it felt like all these fingers were touching me but there was no hand to actually catch me."

In the end, it's the students' academics and employability that pay a price, Berg emphasized. "If they're worried about their next meal, they're not paying attention to their exams or getting their degree because they need to feed themselves and put a roof over their head," she said. "If we can provide that, we'd have a better equipped graduating class and students who are way more prepared to enter the job force," she said.

To address the issue, Berg's group built a toolkit to help schools identify and approach students struggling with homelessness. It includes strategies such as collecting data on student homelessness and raising public awareness of the issue to reduce associated stigmas; tackling food insecurity and financial precarity by reducing barriers to food bank access on campus and financial aid; providing mental health and social support; and securing low income or subsidized housing.

Progress has already been made since the study was unveiled in late 2024, said Berg, pointing to housing support groups made up of administrators and faculty members that have been established at several universities to tackle the issue, as well as thousands of dollars in new government funding recently provided to U of A and NSCC for increased emergency student housing. Still, there's a lot more work to be done, she emphasized.

"This issue exists, it's highly stigmatized and impacts more students than we know," Berg summed up. "We need to keep having discussions about it because ignoring it and pretending it isn't a problem at institutions across the country is not helping these students eat, sleep, rest, or perform at the level they need to."

The Big Thinking Summit: Inflection Point is sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, University of Alberta, University Affairs, Alberta Post Secondary Network, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Sage Journals, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Universities Canada and Athabasca University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Registration is open to the public, with one-day and three-day passes available. Visit www.federationhss.ca/big-thinking-summit-2026 to register and access the program of events.