Housing in Victoria

[elle.woods]

Hi! I was accepted to UVic - my second choice only next to UBC. I have been looking around online for hypothetical potential rentals if I don't get accepted to UBC. Where do UVic students recommend living? What neighbourhoods? Downtown or closer to campus? Are roommates a good idea, or would living alone be better if I can find a reasonable studio/1 bedroom? What time of year do most rentals come up online? (not a lot out there right now.) Am I too early in my hypothetical search? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!! 

[chilly]

It's a tad early to be looking in my opinion. Housing moves quite quickly in Victoria and Vancouver (if you decide to go to UBC and need to rent there), so you'd definitely want to get looking early, but probably not until the summer rolls around. For any university housing, I've typically started looking in July-ish and found places for September. This year was a bit crazy with what went on with UVic more broadly, but still found a place in July.

Re: roommates-- typical considerations apply. If you go with a roommate, I suggest finding someone who will keep the noise down when you really need to study and understand why that's important.

Downtown vs closer to campus really depends on what you personally like. I hate commuting so I live fairly close by, but plenty of people who live further away drive/bike (and I've heard the bike is fairly pleasant). IMO transit is crappy in the evening unless you're going downtown. (If you're going downtown for the night and want to get home, buses stop around 12 + there's no rideshare so usuallytaxis are your only option.)

Some considerations for Downtown: (1) You might like to get away from campus and have your own space. (2) The food is way better downtown-- more options and generally tastier. Even food delivery. (3) There is Evo carshare on campus as well as downtown Victoria (but not in the surrounding UVic neighbourhoods or Saanich area).

A consideration for being close to campus: You might spend a lot of time studying in the library or need to go to the law building really often, depending on your course schedule/extracurriculars/part-time work. If you're studying late, you might not want to have a long commute home.