Give Me Shelter

I saw on the 2015 Facebook page that a few of you are looking for housing, so I asked my long-time Vancouverite friend Aubrie Chaylt for some words of wisdom on the Vancouver rental housing market. Here's a map that might be helpful in your search. I live in Fairview, on Oak Street. It takes me about 35 minutes to get to school on the #33 bus.

Check out Aubrie's post:

Vancouver is small as far as major cities go. In appropriate footwear, you can walk from the depths of Gastown to the edge of Kitsilano in 47 minutes. If you are not from around these parts, the words I have just written may mean nothing to you... yet. The message you should be able to grasp though is not to freak out about housing. It will never be impossible to get from somewhere in Vancouver to campus. Still, deciding where to live in this beautiful city while attending your first year of law school is a pretty important decision.

Resources

One of the many eccentricities of this city is that it is hard to find apartments for rent more than a month before the move-in date. Try not to stress because August is ripe with opportunities. The resources are standard: vancouver.craigslist.ca, vancouver.kijiji.ca, rentbc.com, the classified section in newspapers like the Vancouver Sun and the Province, and UBC Student Housing. Another approach that I have found extremely effective during my seven years in this city is walking around the neighbourhood I want to live in with my cell phone and responding to all the signs out on the lawns stating the availability of a unit in that building. Some places only advertise in that way.

The ‘Hoods

If you are intending to live off-campus, the first thing that I am going to suggest is to stick to Vancouver proper. Unless you have a vehicle, and are planning on buying a parking pass for school, North Vancouver and West Vancouver are a little too far. The following neighbourhoods are not the only ones that exist in Vancouver but they are all attractive to students for different (and the same) reasons:

Point Grey

This is as close as you can get to campus without actually living on campus. Bus routes run through it or just bike to school. There are lots of large, older houses in the area that often contain basement or ground level suites. Sometimes entire houses have been converted into several apartment units primarily intended for students. However, homeowners in this area tend to bank on the fact that students coming from outside of BC will want to be close to UBC and will not be able to canvass the neighbourhood beforehand so do not expect anything in this area to be cheap. Unless your idea of cheap is $1200 per month for a one bedroom. If you are close to 10^th ave, this area has a lot of choice for groceries, coffee, pubs, and even a stellar fine dining Cuban restaurant.

Dunbar

Also close to campus, the number 25 bus will whisk you to school while the number 7 will take you downtown. Still, the primary complaint I have had from friends living in this area is that it feels far away from things. For ease of transit travel, I would recommend looking at places between 16^th and 30^th ave. It doesn’t sound like a large net to cast but there are plenty of units within those boundaries. The student housing in this area tends to be in actual houses again so if you are looking for a basement suite or hoping for a main level unit with yard access... this might be for you. Dunbar St has plenty of necessities including a teeny movie theatre. This neighbourhood tends to be slightly less expensive than Point Grey, especially if you split a full house with several friends.

Kits

What we students refer to as “Kits” tends to be a lot broader than what is technically “Kitsilano”. For the purpose of this article, let’s say it runs from Alma St to Oak St. Kits is home for many UBC students and many yoga mums. It has great transit to UBC and is bike-able if you are slightly more athletic than me. This neighbourhood offers units in houses as well as plenty of apartment buildings and it has less of a “residential feel” since it is littered with places to shop, eat, drink, and do yoga of course. The price of rental housing in this area varies widely. Some apartments are from 1910 boasting 10ft ceilings and awkward bathrooms while others were built within the last five years and have marble countertops and sexy new hardwood floors. For a one bedroom, you are probably looking at something between $800 and $1400 per month depending on what you fancy and what you manage to find.

Downtown

Downtown Vancouver is not very big but it has a lot to offer. Yaletown is shiny, expensive, and preppy. Gastown is hip, expensive, and touches the edges of a riskier neighbourhood or two. The West End is young, reasonably priced for the most part, but also includes Stanley Park and Coal Harbour. And then there is everything in between. Prices for a one bedroom can range from $850 to around $2000 per month. Getting to campus from downtown can be a bit trickier if you are without a vehicle. Both the number 14 and the 44 will take you straight to school but the 44 loads right outside of the Burrard Skytrain Station and it fills up quickly during peak hours. While you are checking out apartment listings, check out bus routes at translink.bc.ca. The benefits of living downtown include a million fun things to do, places to go, and a sweet public library on West Georgia St if studying in the law library is getting you down.

Kerrisdale

Kerrisdale is an easy bus ride to campus on the number 41 or 480 (ten to twenty minutes depending on whether or not it is raining and everyone and their pet turtle is on the bus) but a slightly more onerous trek to downtown on a number 16 (about thirty minutes). Although it is not necessarily a “happening” neighbourhood and grocery shopping is a little inconveniently located, it has great running trails, delicious cafes and restaurants, and the houses have real yards. One bedrooms sit around the $1000 per month mark.

Mount Pleasant & Riley Park

I used to live on Main St and I am constantly on the lookout for a way to return. Like Commercial, Main is not super close to campus so it may not be ideal for a 1L who is planning on spending a lot of outside class time at Allard Hall but, if you catch a B-line from Main and Broadway or a number 25 bus from Main and King Edward, it is an easy trip. Main St has some of my favourite places to eat and drink, a brand new library and community fitness centre on 7^th ave, and hosts Vancouver’s winter farmer’s market at Nat Bailey Stadium. Apartments and suites in this area are less expensive than downtown and the neighbourhoods adjacent to the UBC endowment lands. Prices for a one bedroom can run between $700 and $1050 per month.

Commercial

Commercial is far away from UBC. As a 1L, it is probably not your best bet for securing residence unless you have a car or you find something close to the Broadway Skytrain Station so you are the first kid on the B-Line express bus to UBC in the morning. However, Commercial is a very cool area to live. There are a lot of interesting things going on – performance art, urban gardening spaces, thrift stores, and great places to eat. Also, going further east means lower rental housing prices. The range tends to sit between $700 and $1050 per month for a one bedroom.

And if all else fails, simply construct a dwelling out of all your 1L reading material.

Best of luck!

-          Aubrie (2L)