Lack of affordable, available housing blamed for below-average nursing program enrolment

A lack of affordable and available housing in the capital region is being blamed for keeping people away who are desperately needed in order to correct the ailing health-care system.

Last year, Evan Dendewicz was attending classes at the University of Victoria when he decided that a career in nursing was a better fit for him.

“So I applied, and I luckily got in,” said Dendewicz.

Now he’s three weeks into a four-year undergraduate degree in the Camosun College and University of Victoria nursing program.

“This year we are down, so our enrolment at current is 142 students out of our 160, so a bit surprising for us certainly,” said Kirstin McLaughlin, chair of the nursing program.

It’s surprising and unusual, as traditionally the program comes with a very long waitlist, she explained.

“Typically we see 600 applications for 160 spots, and this year we had about 450 applications,” said McLaughlin.

Some of the 450 applicants did not meet the admissions criteria. Others, when push came to shove, decided to attend post-secondary school elsewhere.