“It’s not unusual for Sean Watters to wake up and find homeless people passed out on the other side of his kitchen window. Nothing a good set of blinds can’t hide, says the UofT political science major of the view from his ground-level apartment at Charles and Bay Sts. “I love not having to commute – it’s fantastic,” says Watters, a 23-year-old Ottawa native.
The full story is here (hat tip: Kevin Stolarick).
April 24th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Well, this isn’t really new… I’m thinking of my college apartment with peeling paint and four flights of stairs, walk to campus, walk to nightlife, $315 a month including heat split three ways.
The real question is, is this a niche choice or a real trend? What’s striking about so much of the in-town housing in large cities is that it’s upscale, and quickly becomes out of reach for many of the people who made the neighborhoods interesting in the first place, deadening a city to some degree. (New Orleans is a great example.)
And the homeless people outside the window become less cool and edgy after a few break-ins.