Really annoyed,

I have been trying to get comfortable around McMaster for years and there are just no apartments. Its like the school and government think its just fine for greedy landlords to come here from all over, buy houses, chop it up into a bunch of little jail cell size rooms and make a ton of cash off poor students. Usually the only one room apartment left is some basement hole in the ground with slopping floors and too low a ceiling for a good portion of people. The conditions stress students out and hampers their ability to successfully complete and education here. I think there needs to be some accountability from the government and the school to secure land around the school specifically for the propose of improving living conditions for its students. The open market will never do that for the students and for that reason it will never improve. I am going to check whether the school promotes its off campus housing in the area when the recruit. I bet they don't. It couldn't possibly be a selling point. If they do though … what do they say? Really! I also wish all the stubborn home owners in the area, that keep giving students a hard time, should face facts and leave because they are really a part of the problem too. They don't NEED to live their but we do.

Thanks for reading,
Daniel Jacques
9944166

government intervention is not always a good thing. Don't always ask the government for things.

On a side note. LOOK. I found several great places when i went looking for student houses.

P.S most of the homes are older homes and naturally have lower ceilings in the basement. Get used to it in cities. **note** government can't increase ceiling height.

Where do you think all these students would live if it wasn't for "greedy" landlords coming in and providing like what, DOUBLE the amount of rooms in the area?

It's not the govt's or city's job to provide housing just because there are students in the area. That's why people are in business n shit. If it's profitable and manageable, it would be done. That's up to some company to determine what kind of housing students want (if it's an apartment, is it a real apartment or dorm-style), if there's enough demand for it (ie: can they pull enough students away from the massive housing market), ... I can go on. >_>

I'm not an expert on the subject, but what's probably easier to maintain (in terms of EVERYTHING, insurance/liability, building codes, regulations, all that) - an apartment filled with under 25 year olds or single houses with likely one leaseholder? It presumably makes sense that what's happening now is the ideal situation - i.e. equilibrium.

Why? Because this "open market" you speak so highly of dictates that.







On a related note, you do know that open market and government intervention/regulation don't really... exist together, right?

I'd say we're currently operating in a way more open market than what you're describing.








Another note

It's not that there are no apartments around McMaster. There's NOTHING around McMaster. Go downtown, and you'll be able to find an apartment. And the trade-off is a 10 minute bus ride. That's minuscule.

What are you going to do when the majority of students fight and scramble for a single room in these apartments? What's going to happen to all these houses, landlords, companies and their employees (ie: cogeco and technicians), land, etc, when everyone wants to cram into apartments? You think it's going to be filled with regular people? Hell no. Nobody wants to live here. It's practically a barren wasteland.





It's like, "Oh hey, here's this super disgustingly discounted bus pass, cheap housing near grocery stores (with bus routes to them, no less), potentially cheap and affordable apartments, safety, amenities, etc, all for practically nothing! Just because we're a university and you're a privileged student!"

...
Welcome to the real world?

blame the city of hamilton for being old. those houses are 40 ish years old so no surprise. the pricing is based on law of supply and demand, and trust me houses around hamilton are cheap compared to ohter unis

I agree that the housing situation for students in Westdale is pretty bleak. There are some nice apartments towards Dundas, but that's it. The student houses around Westdale are generally gross and packed to the brim. My boyfriend lived in a small house of 10 people last year. The garage had been changed into a bedroom, with a portable heater so the student didn't freeze.

I don't know if it's the government's or the school's responsibility, but I've been to other university areas (Brock, U of O), and they are no where near as crappy as Westdale/West Hamilton. I love Westdale as a community, but the actual houses available for students are generally not good.

I agree that Westdale as a community is faily vibrant but their housing could use an improvement.

There are few apartments very close to Mac, these are: Camelet (otherwise known as the cockroach tower which I'm not sure if it actually is because my friend told me that he hasn't seen any cockroaches), Glen Terrace, and Beverly Hill. From the outside, Glen Terrace or Beverly Hill might look more appealing but that is because Glen Terrace actually renovated their apartment recently but they didn't do that much better. It is a pity that there isn't many nice apartments around McMaster or anywhere in Hamilton.

My friend lives in Glen Terrace and it is pretty funny how they renovated the lobby really nice but as you go up the elevator, you can see how worn down the place actually is. The elevator's lighting is white as snow, the hallway smells like old, stale food and inside the apartment looked like it was half-renovated.

I think Hamilton's real estate quality is pretty shit overall in the area directly surrounding McMaster (Westdale/south of main st. w./to the west of Mac). If you go down main st. w. though towards crabby joes (south of there), there are alot of apartments, some of which are okay quality/cleanliness, but there's a ****ing halfway house down there, who the **** wants to live next to there and get mugged by some ****ing crackhead???? If you are from the area and grew up in Dundas or something then that's a legit area for housing and there are some very nice highrise apartments/condos in Dundas, but they are way out of the price range of normal students who are in debt. The bottomline is Hamilton is an old city that would be dead economically w/o Mac, when I go downtown I see businesses closing all over the place....I think living on res is probably the best solution if you really do not like living in shitty conditions along with crackheads far away from campus, who ****ing needs that as a student in university, honestly. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Mac and wouldn't go to any other uni., but I think prospective students should definitely take a look in the surrounding community/talk to students living off campus to get a feel for whether they would enjoy living here. I will say however, that an advantage of living in Hamilton is that SINCE the market is so shit, the prices of real estate are SIGNIFICANTLY less than places like Toronto/Montreal, but you get what you pay for lol.

i love my house in westdale personally you just have to shop around i suppose, fun of being student.

Originally Posted by jacqueda

I also wish all the stubborn home owners in the area, that keep giving students a hard time, should face facts and leave because they are really a part of the problem too. They don't NEED to live their but we do.

?????!!!!!??????

It isn't any fun for me at all living in these places, sorry. Glad you can take it.

For the confused … it means exactly what it says. The people who don't need to be here should leave. I have been here for ten years now and can't get a decent place to live. I have greater right to be able to live around here because I need to be here to finish school. The rich can go fix a place somewhere else to live.

Originally Posted by jacqueda

For the confused … it means exactly what it says. The people who don't need to be here should leave. I have been here for ten years now and can't get a decent place to live. I have greater right to be able to live around here because I need to be here to finish school. The rich can go fix a place somewhere else to live.

Maybe you need to be more proactive, in my three years I have lived in different houses all very hospitable for under 400.

Originally Posted by jacqueda

For the confused … it means exactly what it says. The people who don't need to be here should leave. I have been here for ten years now and can't get a decent place to live. I have greater right to be able to live around here because I need to be here to finish school. The rich can go fix a place somewhere else to live.

It's your right? Thanks for making me laugh.

Why have you been here for 10 years? Leave. You didn't need to be here for the last 6+.

Hypocrite.

(inb4"itstakingme10ye arstofinishmyeducatio n" because that's laughable. Time to move on)

That I know of, there are high, middle and elementary schools around the west dale area, I suppose those students don't have the right to be here either then?

Originally Posted by lawleypop

It's your right? Thanks for making me laugh.

Why have you been here for 10 years? Leave. You didn't need to be here for the last 6+.

Hypocrite.

(inb4"itstakingme10ye arstofinishmyeducatio n" because that's laughable. Time to move on)

The last little bit was unnecessary, lets try to avoid attributing to disposition and perhaps consider situational factors