Mohawk College is getting ready to open its first off-campus residence to address housing the lack of available housing in Hamilton.
The college's vice-president of corporate services mentions that the leased nine-storey building at 55 Catharine St. S. downtown will provide 150 units for up to 300 students.
“It is an existing building that was previously used as a residence for international high school students,” Kim Watkins said.
“Being vacant, it’s set up in an excellent format to accommodate college students.”
Before the acquisition, Mohawk had only one residence on its Fennell campus.
The college is essentially doubling its residence space.
Registration for the Mohawk College Linden Hall residence began this week, and students are expected to start moving in on May 1, before the summer semester starts.
The City of Hamilton estimates that about 6,000 people are waiting for rent-geared-to-income housing in the community.
McMaster University recently invested in its own off-campus downtown residence, housing approximately 250 people who have moved to the city.
Mohawk is also partnering with the online home-sharing platform Spaces Shared, aiming to ease the current housing shortage by connecting students with hosted accommodations.
