The housing affordability crisis in Metro Vancouver and Victoria have created widespread social and economic challenges on our communities. Many young people especially have chosen to move away, stay at home with their parents for longer and/or delay starting a family. Other local millennials like Ben Allen, his roommate Greg, and their 8 roommates have found interesting new ways to make it work.

You may have read one of Ben’s blog posts about how he and his roommates are creatively dealing with Vancouver’s affordability problem by splitting the rent on a Shaugnessy mansion (read parts one, two, three, four, five and six). When I first heard about Ben and his roommates, I was really skeptical over how easy they made it sound to share a house. What about privacy? How about chores?

So when Ben and Greg said they were planning to make a batch of homemade pear cider, I invited myself to have a drink visit, tour the house, learn to make cider and hear more about their shared living situation as a response to the cost of housing here.

Watch the video:

(Okay, I had trouble understanding Greg and Ben because of their charming accents ?. Turn on captions – just click on CC on the bottom right of the video.)

Would you split a mansion with 9 others? Tell us what you think @Vancity #GoodMoneyBlog.