About the project
The housing shortage is a pressing issue in Canadian politics. International students have been blamed for being one of the primary causes of this crisis, resulting in a cap on international student enrolment by the federal government in 2024. This framing merits closer inspection, because international students have contributed over $37.7 billion to the Canadian economy over the last decade. In a fiscally restrictive climate, international students have been one of the few reliable sources of revenue for Canadian higher education institutions (HEIs). In this context, we conducted a scoping review to examine the existing research at the intersection of international students, higher education and housing. The review focused on peer-reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2024, adhered to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, and was informed by the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines for conducting scoping reviews.