Metro Vancouver rental listing highlights the sacrifice for a lower rate

Facebook Marketplace

If you’re looking for a rental in Metro Vancouver and hoping for a lower-than-average rate, one listing might tick your boxes.

However, while the price might be right, the compromise may not be worth the cost.

This Richmond rental listing that went up recently in the property rentals section of Facebook Marketplace is an example of what some folks need to sacrifice to rent affordably.

The lucky renter gets a not-so-private room with a bed inches away from their new male roommate for $650 monthly plus utilities.

To sweeten the deal, you get a large backyard with a gazebo “and patio furniture too.”

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Outside the dreadfully cramped bedroom, the other parts of the home seem decent, including the kitchen and main living area.

Facebook Marketplace

One male student occupies the tiny shared bedroom. The beds appear to be twin-sized.

Facebook Marketplace

The listing states that the house is in a friendly and quiet neighbourhood and that it’s a fully furnished unit. The washroom is shared, there’s a common kitchen, and the rental includes a washer and dryer.

Facebook Marketplace

This is what one X user thought about this listing:

Brought to you by failed government policies on housing.

— Burthier Blank (@Burthier_) March 19, 2024

Is Vancouver a city of broken dreams?

Many Metro Vancouver residents have no choice but to shack up with strangers to find a decent place to live. That was Aurore Loiseau’s story.

Last year, she was paying $600 a month to live in a home in the Cambie Village. A little bit less than the Richmond listing above.

Score, right?

The only problem was that she was living with four other people in a shared house, which was less than ideal for her.

There are countless examples of folks having to do the same to make ends meet.

Could you see yourself renting a space like this Metro Vancouver rental listing? Let us know in the comments.