FIRE, PESTILENCE, AND DAMNATION upon those yuppie motherfucking sons-of-bitches who bought up all the goddamn apartment buildings in the plateau and centre-sud and turned them into goddamn CONDOS!
I spent the whole morning today pounding the pavement from Ontario to the river and from St Denis to Amherst (a large area) and found a total of SEVEN for-rent signs. Of those, two were for commercial space, the phone number on one was disconnected, one cost more than a thousand dollars, and two have yet to call me back. I saw a total of ONE apartment, from all that walking and in all that territory. And it turned out to only be a 3½!!
THIS SUCKS! If I can’t find an apartment by the END OF THE MONTH, I am screwed, blued, and tattooed! Chu dans la marde, and not just me, but James as well!
AAaaaaaaargh… I’m giving myself an ulcer.
And you know why it is? This is a true fact: rental spaces are at such low levels that the City of Montreal had to put a temporary freeze on condo-izing in the Plateau.
They’re all being turned into condos!
I’m a goddamn student! I can’t afford a condo! Where the hell am I supposed to live?
And then (this is the best part) these sleek assholes go and vote for the Canadian Alliance and the provincial Liberals because they don’t like homeless people!!!
It must be the saturated fat. I know it’s the saturated fat. Clogs the neurons, keeps the brain from making connections.
and the only thing I was able to think of was: Student Housing?
Is it a Canadian (excuse me you’re Quebecois, aren’t you? I mean Canadien*) thing, that your Universities don’t have dormitories?
Seriously, the situation you describe sounds as fucked-up as a soup sandwich, and I feel for you, my friend. I wish you luck in your search for a domicile, and note that the California Lotto’s jackpot for tomorrow stands to increase my personal net worth by some $24 mil. Keep your fingers crossed for me, because I know where to make one of my first philanthropic gestures.
*The author apologizes for his inability to compose accent marks and soitils.
Actually, I’m not Québécois, but an anglophone (albeit fluently bilingual) Quebecer. And yes, our universities have(or at least my university has) residences, but
a) they’re already full
b) James goes to a different university, and I don’t think it has residences
c) I couldn’t get a room that fast
d) they cost more than I can spend on housing
e) they’re tiny (I have literally had bigger closets than that) or they have like eight people to a kitchen and shower or both
etc.
That’s very kind of you… unfortunately, it’s not the lack of money per se, but the lack of affordable housing that’s riding my ass. So unless you decide to finance a low-income housing development or a repurchase and rerent of condoized apartments, …
Do you mean cédilles? Anyway, that’s ok. There aren’t any accents in the word Canadien anyway.
I’m kinda with you here. Doesn’t Quebec have the lowest percentage of homeowners in Canada?
Not being too familiar with Montreal, my guess is that where Matt is looking is a cool part of town. If that is the case, that explains why the yuppie scum are converting everything to condo’s.
let they that don’t even live here in la belle province make comments about our housing and where the cheap rentals are…
let’s just assume that montreal is the cheap housing capital, why don’t we ???..do any dopers other than matt, myself, dewt and zaphod even live here??..
the rental situation is getting out of hand…those condos ar popping up EVERYWHERE…la village is not what it used to be…(no, it is no longer the ‘cool’ area…just taken over by condo developers)if you can find anything affordable, it is usually not to be found in a condition that one can live in…
I lived in the McGill dorms for 2 weeks…I have shoeboxes that are bigger…no shit…a single bed has difficulty fitting in there…and since school starts in a week or 2, nope, there is no time to register…all th dorm rooms are gone…so is any and all close-to-campus housing…
Matt…you can come live in the suburbs…I know, I know, the culture shock alone might kill you…but if by the end of the month, you have found rien, you can rent a room in lovely beaconsfield…it’s not the village, but I have a beautiful altar…
Matt: are there any profs going away on sabbatical this year? I’ve gotten some great places to live in by offering to house-sit. Of course, that’s in Waterloo where housing flourishes, but check it out anyway.
matt: There’s always plenty of ads around Concorida for apartments. If you’re look for a specific area you shouldn’t be surprised that it’s hard to find a place. After all, this is downtown, which is basically a business district. Downtown in other cities is even more commercial and it’s almost impossible to find the kind living space you find here. I’ve never seen anything like the Atwater area in Toronto. There you’d have to live in one of those huge blocks if you wanted to be so close to downtown.
Not that living in a big block is necessarily a bad thing but I assume that’s not what you’re looking for.
Thank you for this, Konrad, but I am in fact looking in the village and plateau, which are, the last time I checked, residential neighbourhoods, excepting the commercial arteries.
Why not consider looking outside the plateau? You could hardly have picked a more trendy neighbourhood. The condo building craze in the area should have given you your first clue.
You know, with that world famous public transportation system in montreal and you with your trusty bus pass, there is hardly a neighbourhood on the island that you could not find your way to and from.
NDG, TMR, Cote des Neiges, Outremont… all pretty close to downtown for a commuting fellow such as yourself.
Matt, if it’s any consolation, things are sucky all over.
My brother is starting at George Washington University in DC, and couldn’t find anywhere to live. I mean, ANYWHERE.
Student housing for grad students & post-docs is non-existent, and apartments, townhouses and houses are on the rental market for an average of a day and a half. Most are rented sight-unseen because of the incredibly tight market. He would even be willing to live right in the heart of DC (very bad place) but no luck.
He and a friend are having to rent a three bedroom house (but only one bathroom) in Virginia at an outrageous price.
