Just how cheap were apartments in Montreal?

This video was produced by Eve Parker Finley as part of the CBC Creator Network. Learn more about the Creator Network here.

One thing almost everyone associates with Montreal is cheap apartments.

As the city's indie arts scene gained international attention in the late 1990s and 2000s, Montreal became widely known as a place where artists only needed a part-time job to survive.

This era of affordable housing is still part of Montreal's lore.

But how cheap was it really, and how much do those apartments cost today? In this video, Montreal musician, comedian and TikTok creator Eve Parker Finley looks through old classified ads to see how affordable housing was in this idealized era of Montreal renting.

The Creator Network, which works with emerging visual storytellers to bring their stories to CBC platforms, produced the piece. If you have an idea for the Creator Network, you can send your pitch here.

This film is part of Unlocked: Housing stories by young Canadians, a national storytelling series by the CBC Creator Network. These personal stories, produced primarily by generation Zs and millennials, reveal the challenges young Canadians face finding affordable housing, their creative solutions and their hopes for the future. You can read more stories at cbc.ca/unlocked.