Great roommates, great happiness | The Press

For social or economic reasons, several young people live together under the same roof. Sometimes even up to seven people. And they spin the perfect happiness.

Lea Carrier

The Press

For a more collective life

It is a simple mathematical calculation.

“The more the merrier, the less you pay!” exclaims Nicolas quite simply.

A soft light envelops the living room, decorated with good taste. Piled up on the sofa, there are also Lisa-Maï, Maya, Geoffroy, Marc-Éloi and Soya, the little black cat.

The merry band welcomes us to their cozy accommodation located in the heart of Vieux-Rosemont.

Living with a roommate is almost a necessary step in the life of a young adult. Living with five, six or even seven people under the same roof? It’s more surprising. The Press visited two large shared flats to see how life is organised… and the household.

Student in cultural action, Maya Raimbault is the dean of the place. She found the bargain three years ago: a well-located, five-bedroom apartment for $1,995 a month. Over time, the other occupants joined the flatshare, attracted by the community life and the low-cost rent.

Divided by five, the bill fluctuates between $400 and $450 per month, including heating and internet. With the housing crisis and inflation, students couldn’t hope for better, especially for the neighborhood.

“Rosemont has become gentrified, rents have become super expensive. It is sure that I would not put more than that price in an apartment”, notes Maya.

Psychology student Lisa-Maï Costet agrees. “It’s always a plus, and I wouldn’t see myself living alone and paying $800 to $1,000 a month,” she says.

As in Friends

But living together is not only a question of money. More than bills, roommates share moments of intimacy, friendships.

It’s like living in a perpetual episode of the sitcom Friends : impossible to feel alone. “You come in, there’s someone on the couch, we talk about our dating life jokes Nicolas.

“It’s a great way to get to know people and fit in. When you don’t know anything or anyone, living with people is a social catalyst, ”said Marc-Éloi Robert, a French student who immigrated to Quebec during the pandemic.

Of course, this way of life requires effort. And rules are needed to ensure a minimum of harmony.

Here, everyone must participate in the household, undoubtedly the main source of friction in a shared apartment. To facilitate the sharing of tasks, the group invented a system with a table of chores stuck on the fridge.

The rest is just common sense. We limit noise after 11 p.m., we warn when we invite friends over…

“It’s a bit of informal rules. Even when we lived with the family, we knew when we were overstepping the bounds,” says Lisa-Maï. The most important thing, believes Maya, is communication.

A community dream

Following the path mapped out for them, young people would move in alone or with their partner after their studies, ready for the “real” adult life. Have they thought about what’s next?

The older he gets, the less Nicolas feels the desire to live alone later. “More and more, I envision the life of a young professional in shared accommodation”, confides the mechanical engineering student.

Living together forces us to pay attention to each other. It teaches us solidarity in a society that is no longer very united. Teaches us to talk to each other in a world that no longer listens to each other as much.

“I really want to live together. A roommate with several people is a springboard to more collective lives,” believes Maya.

And happier lives, perhaps.

A second family

In the entrance of the apartment, I count about twenty pairs of shoes, of all sizes and all styles.

No doubt: I am at the right address.

Seven students and young workers share this charming and spacious apartment in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, located a few blocks from Laurier Park.

“People always expect people to say that it’s horrible to live with seven, when in fact, not at all! We just get along too well, ”says Chloé Jiguet.

For the record, Alexandre, Tom and Grégoire – all French students – were the first to move in after finding the rare pearl on a classifieds site in 2021. The other roommates – Maria, Chloé, Sarah and Noémie – arrived later from France, Belgium and Switzerland.

In addition to having retained its period character (the building dates from the 1920s, according to the owner), the apartment is huge. It has seven bedrooms, three toilets, two fridges and a pool table. Without heating, it costs its tenants between $400 and $580.

But money has nothing to do with their way of life.

Leaving their country, the young expatriates left everything behind. But they found a second family within these walls. “It’s important to recreate a little cocoon in which you can feel good when you’re away from home,” adds Sarah.

Lots of love

Like a family, everyone eats together in the evening. Cooking for seven people takes time and a certain level of organization, but it also has its advantages.

“You know that you can also count on others when you don’t necessarily have time to go shopping and cook. In the end, it takes a mental load off you,” Sarah explains.

In September, the gang bought a minivan for weekend trips. After a road trip in New York, she recently visited Ile aux Butts, in Drummondville, which had, to their disappointment, nothing to do with the name…

Of course, there is no injunction to be together all the time, and everyone has the right to have their space too.

When they feel the need to “reconnect,” the seven roommates all put their mattresses in the living room and sleep side by side. It’s true, there’s a lot of love between them, but don’t get any ideas, cohabitation is strictly forbidden.

“We don’t touch roommates! jokes Chloe.

Afraid of being alone?

Basically, doesn’t the need to be constantly surrounded also hide the fear of being alone?

“I think there is a lot of anxiety. I can’t imagine arriving home in a completely extinguished apartment and realizing that I’m all alone,” says Tom.

For Chloe, the interest just isn’t there. “I wouldn’t know how to live alone, but that’s not my goal,” she replies.

“I’m almost proud of what we’re going through and it makes me so happy to be able to share it, and to tell myself that people may be changing their vision of what it’s like to live as a seven,” concludes- She.