After years of renting downtown, Casey Lewis and three friends are moving to one of Toronto’s wealthiest neighbourhoods. Their new shared home has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a two-car garage and more than one fireplace — it’s also much cheaper.The four 20-something roommates took the unusual step of moving into a 3,000-square-foot brick home in Forest Hill on Tuesday, paying far less than what it would cost to rent four one-bedroom apartments downtown.“Everyone I’ve spoken with is a little bit surprised about the area we’re living in,” said Lewis. “You look at all of the houses around us, and it’s all — most likely, at least — single families with BMWs and Audis in the driveways and multimillion dollar houses.” Their move may not be part of a wave of newcomers to the neighbourhood, but it’s an example of the creative lengths Torontonians are going to in the search for affordable housing, experts and politicians told the Star. “That it is more affordable for young people to live in a large Forest Hill home than an apartment demonstrates that Toronto’s rental market is out of control,” Ward 22 Councillor Josh Matlow, chair of Toronto’s tenant issues committee, said in an email.“You’ve got to hand it to them — they’ve come up with a creative way to find the type of housing that they want,” said Jennifer Keesmaat, Toronto’s former chief planner.“And I think that is a reflection of the fact that things are not staying the same, but our approach to housing is fundamentally changing.”The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment downtown is $1,995 a month, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board. Lewis and his friends will be paying an average of $1,050 each to rent the three-storey home north of St. Clair Ave. W. near Bathurst St.With all four roommates working north of Bloor St., “it didn’t make sense ...
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