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A Toronto housing listing went viral for charging $420 a bed in the same room as 2 other strangers

Gabi Stevenson   

A Toronto housing listing went viral for charging $420 a bed — in the same room as 2 other strangers
LifeThelife2 min read
  • A rental listing posted on Facebook appeared to offer three beds in the same room for $420 each.
  • The now-deleted post was shared on a Toronto housing page on Facebook, according to a screenshot.

A now-deleted rental listing for three separate beds that share a single room in a Toronto home has gone viral after receiving backlash on social media.

The listing was shared by Facebook user Zahir Chowdhury on a Toronto housing page last weekend, according to Toronto outlet blogTO, which published a screenshot that purportedly shows the original post.

According to the screenshot, taken by Facebook user Maggie Mae Taylor, the ad lists "1 large fully furnished bedroom with 3 beds available" for $420 each. A photo of the room appears to show three cots, two chairs, and a small table in the space.

The listing included amenities such as utilities, Wi-Fi, in-unit laundry, and a separate entrance, according to the screenshot. Chowdhury did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Taylor, who confirmed to Insider that she took the screenshot, said she "saw the post and just laughed." She added that she thought the price was high, telling Insider: "I thought it was insane they were charging that for a glorified crack den in a town nobody wants to live in."

Taylor also told blogTO that while some of the comments under the post were lighthearted, others included threats to report the poster to the city. One commenter even suggested they would "attack the house."

Although the listing doesn't mention the room's measurements, as the blogTO article points out, the room appears to violate the Toronto Municipal Code which says "the maximum number of persons living in a habitable room shall not exceed one person for each nine square metres of habitable room floor area."

Radio station Q107 shared Taylor's screenshot of the listing to its Facebook page, calling it "more proof Toronto rent is crazy."

One Facebook user wrote in the comments of Q107's post: "It's extremely hard to find a place within a reasonable price. It seems to get worse almost daily."

"A military barracks and prison cells have better accommodations," another wrote.

According to rental platform Zumper, the median one-bedroom rent price in Toronto for April 2022 is $1,920. Although Toronto falls behind Vancouver's $2,190 in one-bedroom rental prices, a February 2022 report by the Royal Bank of Canada found that Toronto is now the most expensive real-estate market in the country.

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