Mon Appart (or Housing in Paris, Part 2: Studio Apartment)

Our 19th Century Haussmann apartment building.

There is so much I want to write about, and I'm trying to catch up! Back in February, we moved out of our foyer (residence hall type place) and into a subleased studio. It's only slightly bigger than our foyer room, 18m2 (194 square ft), but we have our own kitchen, which is slowly helping me with that learning to cook goal, and we share a toilet with one other studio. The shower is oddly in the kitchen, but it works for us. This size of studio apartment is typical for students in Paris, as housing is so expensive here. We unfortuanetly no longer qualify for CAF assistance, but we pay a relatively fair rent amount.

It may sound small, but we really have all the space we need. We love our quiet area, and we are close to Avenue d'Italie, where we do all of our errands, and close to the metro so we can go anywhere in Paris in an hour or less. Both our old foyer and current studio are in the 13th district, but we're in a nicer area now, with more restaurant and grocery shopping options. I actually adore our area, which includes the Butte aux Cailles. But that's for another blog post. Now, I just want to share some pics of our humble abode.

Kitchen. Do you see the shower?

Kitchen, view #2.

Living room/dining room/bedroom. I love our big window!

Living room/dining room/bedroom view #2. Our bed is a BZ, think futon but it pulls out the other way.

The view of the treacherous stairs from the top floor.

I heart the CAF. Social Security office, not so much.

I heart the CAF

Today I checked my French bank account, hoping I hadn't gone negative yet (I'm not so good with personal finances) and had a happy surprise. A nice big chunk of euros had been deposited into my account. The generous donor was the CAF (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales), the agency that determines and distributes social benefits. The benefit that Tom and I, and most other students and language assistants, qualify for is rent assistance. The amount of assistance depends on how much you make, your age, and how much you pay for rent.

We had been paid a nice amount back in March and then I received mail from the CAF requesting more documents, stating that we were entitled to more assistance. I'm no dummy, so I sent it in right away, and here we are.

Since moving into our studio, we no longer qualify for the CAF, since it's a sublet. So the assistance we've received was for the rent we paid at the foyer (residence hall). We lived there for 6 months. I did the math and our CAF payments covered 50% of our rent at the foyer. FIFTY PERCENT. Wow.

I have written several times before about our administration frustrations, and the CAF was one of them. We moved here in September, and did not have all of our necessary documents ready for the CAF until January. Then, it took a good two months for them to go over our file.

It's slow. Very slow. But I'm very very happy with the CAF right now. It makes affording Paris housing...possible. My childlike husband asked what we were going to do with the money. I said, "Pay the rent."

Social Security office, we need to see other people.

Three trips to the office to sign up for social security to get health coverage.

First time, wait. Wait. "You're at the wrong office."

Second time, wait. "Your sex is not indicated on your birth certificate. This won't work." Wonderful dad picks up a new birth certificate and mails it to me.

Third time, wait. Wait. "Looks good. You'll receive something in the mail soon."

Oh I received something in the mail. My entire file was returned with a letter stating that I still didn't have everything. One of the things is my pay slip from March, which I obviously didn't have when I completed the file in MARCH. For the love. Another is the pay slip from October. Since I wasn't paid from October until December, I have one pay slip for three months, which I gave them with a letter explaining that.

Is it worth it? Do I give up? What happens if I don't sign up? I go home in two months!

Housing in Paris, Part 1: Foyer

Since our arrival in September until now, we have lived in a foyer in the 13th district of Paris, Foyer Masséna, part of the CLJT. There really isn’t a good translation of foyer, because, as far as I know, there is nothing like this in the US. The closest comparison is a dorm, because there is a lot of collectivity. We have a 15m2 room with a sink, and there is one bathroom (3 toilets and 3 showers- coed!) per floor. We also share a tiny kitchen with the other 100 some residents.

However, it is far from being a dorm because it is not connected to a university and accept young people aged 18-25 (with some flexibility) from all over the world. Some foyers are just for students, some just for girls, and some just for workers. Ours is a foyer for jeunes travailleurs, étudiants, et stagaires (young workers, students, and interns). Some foyers only have single rooms, and ours, of course, has rooms for couples.

Pictures of our room, taken around Christmas:







Tomorrow we are moving to a studio. We are very excited to be moving, because life in this foyer has become borderline unbearable. I must add that our frustration is related more to specific circumstances than general foyer life. Let me explain. When we applied to live here, we were told that the bathroom and kitchen were collective, but that they were renovating a new, nice, better building in central Paris and that everyone would be moving to the new place in December. December.

Tomorrow is March 1 and we are still here. The move was delayed until January, and then February, and then March. What’s worse than sharing a bathroom and kitchen is that the cafeteria (which served dinner Monday-Friday) stopped last month in anticipation of the move. We never bought a fridge because one was supposed to be included in the new room at the new foyer. In addition, it seems that the direction here has lost interest in the conditions of this foyer, “knowing” we’ll be moving soon. Among other problems, there is rarely toilet paper in the bathrooms and the Internet goes out on the weekends when the staff isn’t here to reboot it. If we knew 100% for sure that we would be moving to the dream foyer in March, we would be sticking with foyer life. Yet, we have very little faith in them now.

We did live here for nearly 6 months, though, and I thought it might be helpful to future students and English assistants if I gave a quick bilan of the advantages and disadvantages of living in a foyer- not specifically this one which is falling apart. Of course, not all foyers are the same, so if you are considering applying to live in one, ask a lot of questions!

Advantages

• It’s easy. I mean that it’s easy to apply to live in a foyer compared to the nightmare of trying to find an apartment in Paris. Affordable and decent housing is a big problem in Paris, especially for students, since there aren’t dorms like in the US. I was afraid of coming to Paris (at the same time as tons of students) without a place to live. I know other assistants who didn’t find a place for two weeks or more. Others found a temporary place, but had to do the search all over again after a month or two. Finding an apartment or studio here takes time, energy, and MONEY. For our foyer, we had to give a security deposit (une caution/ une garantie) equal to the amount of one month’s rent (le loyer). But with apartments, when you use an agency, you have to pay a deposit of one or two month’s rent, first month’s rent, and often agency fees (honoraries) that are at least the amount of one month’s rent. So, if you found a place for 650 euros/month, you may have to pay 2000 euros or more. Also, you usually have to have a co-signer (garant) if you don’t make 3 TIMES the amount of the rent. You also have to have all kinds of paperwork that you probably don’t have in the first week of arriving.

• It’s probably cheaper than any apartment or studio you’ll find in Paris. But, I guess you get what you pay for….

• There are (for our foyer at least) planned activities that are usually free. Tom often played badminton and volleyball. I did a few cooking workshops which were fun.

• The staff members are usually helpful with questions about housing assistance, bank accounts, and where to find things in the neighborhood.

• It’s a good way to meet people- if you’re outgoing and enjoy the activities proposed.

• It’s international, which maybe 50% French and 50% foreigners from the US, northern Africa, Italy, Spain, Latin America…. I think other foyers are mostly non-French. Not sure.

Disadvantages

• Sharing a bathroom (again, some foyers have rooms with private bathrooms). This wouldn’t be so bad if some people here weren’t so disgusting! Gross.

• At this foyer, there is no Wi-Fi and Internet is only accessible in… you guessed it, in a common room, only open from 9am-midnight. You have to have a cord and there is a limited number of spots- perhaps 8 for more than 100 people that live here!

• There are too many Americans. A disadvantage? Yes, when one wants to learn French.

• A particular disadvantage for us: we are perhaps on the older end of the age range here and are married. We are also not so much into partying in the “college” way. Therefore, it was actually difficult to make friends here, due to a lack of common interests I suppose. Going from having our own place to living in a dorm-like place has been tough and sometimes made me feel like I was being treated like a child.

• The building is simply not very attractive.

• Some foyers (not ours) have a curfew and don’t allow overnight guests. This may mostly apply to the all girl foyers.

So, there you have it. Generally for students and English assistants, I would recommend living in a foyer if you are single and are used to living in a dorm. If not, some adjustment is required. I would in general recommend the association that our foyer belongs to, CLJT, but not this specific foyer, unless they actually do move to the apparently inexistent foyer in St. Lazare (9th district). And remember to ask a lot of questions! It also could be a temporary solution. You have to give a month’s notice before leaving, though.

We are moving tomorrow to a studio, only slightly bigger but with a kitchen and shower and the possibility of Wi-Fi. The toilet is in the hall (not uncommon here) and is shared with one other studio. I think it will be a vast improvement, but I’m hoping not to run into any unexpected problems. I will keep you posted.