In Hutchings’ basement suite, the kitchen and dining area is relatively spacious in comparison to the whole suite, taking up about half the living space. However, Hutchings moved here from a townhouse where she said she had ample space. She says downsizing and adjusting to not having certain amenities like a dishwasher has been tough. Even with only two people, in a small space the dishes pile up quickly, she says.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALYSSA QUIRICO|aquirico@cjournal.ca
Makeup artist Alannah Hutchings, 23, has been renting this small basement suite for $1,195 per month in North Glenmore with her brother since September 2013. After leaving a roomy townhouse she shared with a friend just before the summer of 2013, she stayed with her parents for a few months until she and her brother were able to find this secondary suite. Unfortunately, they were searching for rental properties right after the June floods when availability was tight and prices skyrocketed.
Hutchings says, “We didn’t really have a choice… even places you wouldn’t blink twice at were asking for perfect credit and outrageous deposits because they could—because everyone was looking for a place to live.” She says landlords at that time seemed to have the upper hand in picking renters. “We would have stayed anywhere at that point,” Hutchings says.
She’s unsure if the suite is fully legal. She adds that although the location and access to amenities is nice, the suite’s small size of roughly 475 sq. feet and chilly environment is getting to her. Her brother plans to stay in the suite and get another roommate when Hutchings moves in May to Silverado in the far S.W. corner to live with a friend who just purchased a home there.
Alannah Hutchings folds freshly washed towels outside the door to her 475-sq. foot basement suite she shares with her brother in North Glenmore. The laundry room below the stairs outside her suite is shared with her landlords who live above her. The heat in her suite is fully controlled by her landlords upstairs. She says that combined with tile floors makes for a chilly environment. “It’s a bit of an ongoing issue,” Hutchings says.Makeup artist Alannah Hutchings touches up her mascara in the small bathroom she shares with her brother in their 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom basement suite in North Glenmore. She says after living there for about seven months, the lack of space is getting to her. She plans to move in May to the suburbs of Silverado in S.W. Calgary, located just past Spruce Meadows. The location is less convenient but she will have the luxury of sharing a whole home with only one other person.
