Internship housing is a specific problem. You need somewhere for three months, furnished, in a city you may not know, arranged from wherever you currently are — and most of the rental market is built around twelve-month unfurnished leases with your name on the utility accounts.
The summer term
A shorter summer term runs June to August on the Deluxe and Flex Plus rooms at Garneau Towers, at a lower weekly rate than the academic year. That is the arrangement built for exactly this: a term that starts when your internship starts and ends when it ends.
Outside that window the lease is nine months, covering the academic year.
Ask us for the current summer weekly rate — it moves with availability, and quoting a stale number here would be worse than not quoting one. Email, WhatsApp or call; we answer Monday to Saturday, 9:00 to 19:00 Mountain Time.
What you get
A private bedroom in a four-bedroom suite — the Deluxe and Flex Plus rooms at Garneau Towers. A full bed with linens, made before you arrive, a study desk, a desk lamp and shelving. Most room types add a wall-mounted television. The suite’s kitchen and its dining or sitting area are furnished.
Heat, water, power and Wi-Fi are in the rent. Laundry is in the building. Maintenance is on site. There is no utility account to open in your name and close three months later, no service fee and no application fee.
Garneau Towers also has the fitness centre, the two laundry rooms and the lounge.
One bathroom is shared between the four bedrooms. There is no private-bathroom option in either building.
Why the location does the work
Garneau Towers is at 8510 111 St NW, a street from the University of Alberta. The Education building is about a seven-minute walk and the hospital about six. Main Quad, at the far side of campus, is twelve to fourteen.
For a research or hospital placement that is the whole argument: no commute to budget for, no bus timetable to build a summer around, and the walk stays a walk in June.
Arranging it from somewhere else
Most people doing this are not in Edmonton when they arrange it.
Book a video tour and we will walk you through the room and the suite live. Apply from wherever you are. Sign electronically. The room is furnished and the utilities are already on, so you arrive with a suitcase and start.
That is not an accommodation we make for interns — it is how most of both buildings fills in September.
What it costs, and what you pay up front
The academic-year rooms at Garneau Towers run $560 to $800 every four weeks; the summer term is at a lower weekly rate on the Deluxe and Flex Plus rooms. Rent is quoted every four weeks because that is the billing period — the number you are actually billed, rather than a monthly average.
Before you move in you pay one security deposit, and nothing else. Under Alberta’s Residential Tenancies Act it is capped at one month’s rent and comes back with interest after you move out and the room is inspected.
If you are not sure how you will show income for a summer placement: tell us on the application how the rent will be covered — a stipend, a job, a sponsor, or a parent standing as guarantor. A guarantor is not automatically required.
A short checklist for any intern housing offer
Whoever you rent from, this is what actually decides whether three months goes well.
- Does the term match your placement dates? A twelve-month lease broken at month three is expensive.
- Is it furnished, and does furnished include a bed and a desk? Ask specifically.
- Are utilities in the rent, or accounts you open and close? Opening and closing accounts for a three-month stay is its own small job.
- How far is the walk to where you are actually working? Not to downtown — to your building.
- How many share the bathroom? Here it is four.
- What is the deposit and when does it come back? (How it works sets ours out.) In Alberta, capped at one month’s rent, returned with interest after inspection.