Monday, July 28, 2008

Queens student housing in Kingston, Ontario

Ok, I'm back from my one day trip to Kingston for middle son who is second year at Queens. They have a tradition there, where first year is taken care of at residence, and from then on you are thrown to the wolves, and must make your own cave in the jungle of the local housing. If you think I'm kidding about the 'wild' references, you should see some of these places! My stomach is still turning!

The Kingston housing economics is very interesting. For a while, all Ontario universities had a 'double cohort', which meant that Grade 13 was eliminated, and both grade 12&13 went to university at once. This created a bonanza for rental housing at Kingston, with very far houses full up. Now that 'pig in a python' has been fully digested, and there is a total rental housing collapse, with only the near houses finding renters. Top that with a total collapse of the selling market, (Ontario recession) and it is interesting. The place we got was a resale, but they gave up and started renting. Very nice basement, with an all-inclusive price, and shorter than 12 month lease. Just last year, they forced people to take 12 month leases with utilities extra!

3 comments:

Monado said...

Reminds me of when I got my first job in Toronto, with "Can you start Monday?" thrown in. I looked at one place where a cubbyhole framed in rags behind a "monster in the basement" gravity-fed furnace was described as a one-bedroom apartment. I eventually found a flat and windows and natural light.

There's still an apartment building at Donlands and Danforth where the proprietors think that a wide space in three or four strides from the kitchen to the bathroom makes it a one-bedroom apartment instead of a bed-sitter.

Harold Asmis said...

yes, on the other hand, Mr. Toronto 4th year, is going into a shared basement with his room only big enough for a bed!

Anonymous said...

i can certainly mention a house to avoid in kingston:
346 Albert Street.
the house is ok (watch the outrageous utilities) but landlord contact and management are abysmal.
good luck.