Fredericton Apartments Left Vacant During Pandemic

Apartments around Fredericton are seeing an increase in vacancies as students due to classes being remote. 

Fredericton universities had come to move classes online during the summer as a safety precaution against COVID 19, and without the requirement to stay near campus, many students have moved back to their hometowns. 

“I came to this decision as soon as I got the information that [St. Thomas University] was back online, and nothing made me question it,” said Kaylin Wilkins.

Wilkins, a second-year Psychology student at STU, had originally signed a year-long lease for an apartment in Fredericton but decided to end the lease once it was announced that the winter term would also be remote. 

“I didn’t want to pay rent for somewhere that I didn’t need to be so I could save some money. It also meant that I could see my boyfriend when he came down every weekend and my friends,” said Wilkins.

Though the reasoning behind the students leaving is logical, the number of departures from Fredericton could mean further trouble for business owners and landlords in the community. 

“Students are a good economic driver because they’re supporting the grocery stores, little cafes, the shops, the clothing stores, any of that stuff, there’s certainly some outside dollars coming into these communities that are going to be missed,” said Annick Butland, a representative from the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick. 

Though commercial landlords and business owners can rely on Covid 19 resources such as the Canadian Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA), residential landlords are not so fortunate. 

“So residential landlords, whether their houses or apartments, people have been struggling to pay their rent. I think there was some confusion when the rent subsidy came out that people thought they didn’t have to pay their personal rent. That was not the case, this was certainly a commercial relief, not a residential relief.” said Butland

With many students either breaking their leases or not renewing their former leases, many landlords are having a hard time finding new tenants to fill their rooms. This is also an issue that students who have decided to stay in Fredericton are seeing, as it means there are fewer options for new roommates. 

“We’ve been searching for a roommate for the past a little bit. And the challenge has been people don’t have in-person classes, and they can do them all online at home, or it’s in the middle- in the middle of a semester, and no one’s even looking for an apartment” said Abbie Johnson, a second-year University of New Brunswick student and Fredericton resident. 

Without roommates, students like Johnson may have no choice but to break their lease and move home; regardless of whether or not they want to stay. 

“I chose to stay in Fredericton for a couple different reasons. I heard that none of my classes were going to be in person. But at that point, I had already signed a lease to stay. And also because I wanted to get away from home, try living on my own.”

Though there are a lack of students currently, many of those who left Fredericton claim that they intend on returning next year, whether classes are on campus or not.