02-12-2018, 10:52 AM
That's a good point about the layout being relatively more challenging. And, it's not even that people "want" windows in a bedroom, it's a legal requirement. Three bedroom units can be put in corners. I don't know how many are appropriate, but it seems to me the proportion should be more than 0%.
Obviously dens are used as bedrooms in practice at least sometimes, but they can't be advertised that way.
I only mentioned affordable housing because activists seem to think government has a role in either providing it or incenting private providers to provide it (I don't disagree), but it doesn't seem to be a common belief that government has a role in incenting private providers to provide housing for certain types of families. If you are happy to have your children share a room, then you have plenty of options. If you want to rent a new apartment in which both your children (never mind the families who do have more than two) have a bedroom, well, that's not going to be available downtown, regardless how much you are willing to pay. I think that's a shame.
This is off-topic, but your point about people being increasingly unwilling to have children share a room is a good one. I would say that attitude can impact people who are just fine with the practice, though, if landlords and property managers enforce their own occupancy limits.
As an example, I was recently helping a friend search for an apartment for a family of five. In one case, a landlord told me that his 950 square foot bungalow on a small lot was not suitable for the family, and would be best for a couple because it was small, and the bedrooms small. That's illegal discrimination, of course, but I wasn't going to press the point too hard (he probably wouldn't be a good landlord to rent from). But I was surprised by that, since that house, when built, probably would have been viewed by most people as being perfectly appropriate for a family of that size.
Obviously dens are used as bedrooms in practice at least sometimes, but they can't be advertised that way.
I only mentioned affordable housing because activists seem to think government has a role in either providing it or incenting private providers to provide it (I don't disagree), but it doesn't seem to be a common belief that government has a role in incenting private providers to provide housing for certain types of families. If you are happy to have your children share a room, then you have plenty of options. If you want to rent a new apartment in which both your children (never mind the families who do have more than two) have a bedroom, well, that's not going to be available downtown, regardless how much you are willing to pay. I think that's a shame.
This is off-topic, but your point about people being increasingly unwilling to have children share a room is a good one. I would say that attitude can impact people who are just fine with the practice, though, if landlords and property managers enforce their own occupancy limits.
As an example, I was recently helping a friend search for an apartment for a family of five. In one case, a landlord told me that his 950 square foot bungalow on a small lot was not suitable for the family, and would be best for a couple because it was small, and the bedrooms small. That's illegal discrimination, of course, but I wasn't going to press the point too hard (he probably wouldn't be a good landlord to rent from). But I was surprised by that, since that house, when built, probably would have been viewed by most people as being perfectly appropriate for a family of that size.