Getting settled in Vancouver

Flat hunting in Canada’s most expensive city

It’s early September when Isabelle and myself return from our US trip back to the city I want to call my home for a little while. We still have the odd sunny day but it’s getting colder and wetter. Autumn is on the doorstep. This only increases the slight unease I’m feeling. I know that for now, the party is over: I’m not prepared to keep paying the high prices for hostel accommodation in Vancouver and on top of that, I’m at least momentarily done with living out of my backpack in a shared dorm and sleeping in a bunk bed. I need to find accommodation and a job.

Vancouver is, without a doubt, an absolute beauty of a city. With its dreamy city beaches, mountain backdrop, the forest of Stanley Park, Canada place and Downtown nestled against the waterfront and the cobblestone alleys of Gastown, it’s as charming yet impressive a city as it gets. As it also has a very moderate, pleasant climate it doesn’t come as a surprise that so many people chose to move to Vancouver. Now counting 2.3 million inhabitants, the Greater Vancouver Regional District is forecasted to grow to 3.5 million within the next 15 years. The consequence of Vancouver’s popularity is that it’s Canada’s most expensive city, and this counts as much for grocery shopping and going out as for housing and accommodation, which is scarce. While on a walking tour of the city one day, our lovely tour guide Erik jokingly informs us that BC doesn’t just stand for British Columbia but also for “Bring Cash”.

I move straight into HI Downtown Vancouver just off colourful and buzzing Davie Street and just a ten-minute walk from Sunset beach. It’s not the nicest looking hostel; the interior is somewhat old-fashioned and it has a very institutional character about it. But it’s got a lot more common space than the equally large but much more social Samesun on Vancouver’s entertainment mile of Granville Street where I stayed before. And I do need some peace and quiet to get the flat and job hunt started.

The hostel conveniently features a library room on the ground floor in which I am spending most of my days. When it gets too dull in the dimly lit room, I escape onto the rooftop terrace of the hostel to enjoy the last rays of sunshine for this year or I head to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre just down the road for a little run along the beach front and a workout. At first I am looking for jobs and flats in parallel because ideally, I’d like to know where I’ll be working so I can find a place to live not too far away. However I quickly realise that finding accommodation in Vancouver, in particular rooms in shared places, at a time when students are just about to go back or start university, requires all my attention. Plus the hostel stay is seriously draining my bank account.

I have already had the pleasure to live in quite a few places. In Australia and New Zealand, living in a hostel or having a room in a shared flat didn’t make a huge difference at least cost-wise. So I spent most of my time there living in hostels or private rooms in shared accommodation which I always found in a couple of days. Flat hunting in London turned out to be a bit trickier but so far nothing compares to the pain of finding a room in Vancouver. And that is despite the fact that I am a female, which means I have a lot more choice than my male flat hunters because a lot of adverts are addressed to “females-only”.

Whereas in other cities, you would meet the flatmates to make sure you’re a good match, in Vancouver the landlord shows you around in place, mostly together with other people interested in the room, and then makes his decision with regards to who he or she will choose to move in. You will most likely not meet your flatmates until you move in, which I find very bizarre. Most landlords prefer that tenants sign a lease with a minimum rental term, often in excess of 3-6 and sometimes even 12 months. I won’t be able to sign anything for more than 3 months as my visa will expire around that time. Not that I feel like renting any of places I am seeing anyway. The rental situation is so desperate that a lot of people are renting out their living room in particular in Downtown, sometimes divided from the remainder of the flat by a curtain, sometimes not at all, for the price of a private room. Most of the rooms I see are either tiny, shabby, or both. One house features a total of 27 rooms with a large common kitchen and a total of 2 bathrooms for all the tenants.

Whenever the flat hunt gets to me, I make sure to get out of the hostel. The HI Vancouver offers a very popular tour with the passionate tour guide Erik to Lynn Canyon in North Vancouver. Erik has lived in Vancouver for more than 20 years and just listening to him affectionately talking about his city makes all the hassle of flat hunting worthwhile. The day starts near the hostel with a tour of Downtown Vancouver before we head to North Vancouver by bus. Lynn Canyon is just a short walk from the bus stop and it’s a beautiful little stream where we pause for lunch and I dip my feet into the freezing cold, clear waters that appear emerald green in some places. While the late summer sun is making the gurgling water surface glitter, I am happily having my sandwich, thankful to be out in the sunshine again. Heading back to Vancouver on the Seabus, a commuter boat that runs every 15 minutes from North to Downtown, our next stop would be the Chinese Gardens but I have to leave the tour early for another room viewing.

After two weeks of flat hunting, I am starting to feel very stressed. I am flying back to Germany in a week’s time and I don’t want to move back into the hostel and start from scratch when I come back. Just as I am starting to accept the fact that this is exactly what I will have to do, I find a place in East Vancouver that ticks all the boxes for me and features a very nice view to Downtown Vancouver as well as the mountains in the North.

What to consider when looking for a flat or room in Vancouver

• The best website to look for shared accommodation is craigslist.ca. Under “Housing” there is a section for “Rooms and Shares” as well as “Sublets and Temporary” if you only need a place for a shorter / limited time. The temporary places are most usually more expensive. For temporary accommodation, it can also be worth looking at airbnb.com. Some Facebook groups also advertise rooms, e.g. Irish in Vancouver.
• Decide which areas to look at. I found this Neighbourhoods Guide very helpful. The Downtown Vancouver area is obviously the most expensive. For me it was essential to be close to the Skytrain, the fastest means of public transport, to make sure I can get around easily once I find a job. East Vancouver is great because I’m still quickly in Downtown and some nice areas to go out such as Main Street and Commercial Drive are close.
• Keep checking and refreshing the page all day and be quick. Especially in summer or early autumn, rooms will be gone in the blink of an eye. Call if there is a number – don’t bother emailing unless you don’t have another choice.
• Prepare a list of questions to ask over the phone. E.g. Is it a private room with a door, how many people live there, how many bathrooms does the place have etc. Otherwise you might waste your time going to places that are unsuitable (like I did at first).
• Landlords ask for a security deposit, which is usually half a month’s rent before moving in. One of my friends actually had the deposit ready when he viewed the room – therefore he got it, to the dismay of the other room searchers looking at the place with him.