The Canadian government is considering a cap on international student visas to tackle the housing crisis.

During a press conference on Monday, Housing Minister Sean Fraser told reporters that a cap is "one of the options" Ottawa is considering to address the lack of housing amidst the "explosive growth" of temporary immigration programs like the international student program.

"The international student program has seen such growth and in such concentrated areas that it is really starting to put an unprecedented level of demand, in some instances, on the job market," he explained.

"But given the economic conditions we've been living with for the past couple of years, you see it in a more pronounced way on the housing market."

Fraser stressed that the conversation isn't about blaming newcomers for Canada's housing challenges.

He acknowledged that these issues have been decades in the making and have been perpetuated by previous Liberal and Conservative governments.

"[Governments] retreated heavily from making the basic investments in social housing that is now revealing itself through the market today," said Fraser.

According to official data, as of December 2022, there were over 800,000 foreigners with active international student visas in Canada.

Fraser says that before seriously considering a cap, the government plans to work closely with Canadian universities to ensure these students have a place to live.

He adds that that includes addressing some of these institutions’ exploitation of international students.

"When you see some of these institutions that have five, six times as many students enrolled as they have spaces for them in the building, and you see them continue to pop up in plaza colleges across the country, you've got to start to ask yourself some pretty tough questions," said Fraser.

According to the housing minister, the government has no immediate plans to lower the number of international student visas.

Fraser says he'll be discussing options with Immigration Minister Marc Miller.