Apartment hunting in Paris reminds me why I'm a conservative

Why is apartment hunting in Paris such a chore? In a word: socialism.

A Parisian neighborhood.
(Image credit: (Scott Stulberg/Corbis))

My family and I live in Paris. There are many nice things about Paris, as everyone on the planet knows. Apartment hunting is not one of them.

Nevermind the extortionary rents. To rent an apartment, you have to submit to a virtual proctology exam, handing over everything short of blood tests about your financial history to landlords or asset managers, who invariably treat you like dirt. Landlords will only look at your file if you earn three times the rent, which, given Paris rents, means you must make a lot of money. But the most frustrating thing is that landlords evaluate not just how much money you make — fair enough — but how you make it. For someone like me, a freelancer, the bar is even higher. Friends with foreign-sounding last names and/or darker skin report being turned down without their file being looked at.

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Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry is a writer and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His writing has appeared at Forbes, The Atlantic, First Things, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Quartz, and other places. He lives in Paris with his beloved wife and daughter.