Viraldice: Couple Is Told They Can’t Rent an Apartment Because of the Sex of Their Baby

he stress that comes with moving and real estate is no joke. Whether you're buying, selling, or renting, the whole ordeal is really just an experiment in how fast you can lose your mind. Throw some kids into the mix, and things can turn into barely controlled chaos.

But what if, instead of someone offering to help you and those cute kiddos, they left you out in the cold instead?

That's what Kristjan Gottfried and Michelle Hurtig of Vancouver, Canada are saying happened to them. According to the couple, their application for residency was denied due to the fact that their unborn baby didn't quite meet renting standards — and you won't believe what that standard was.

Not the ideal resident?

At first, Michelle and Krisjan were informed that they were first on the list for an apartment in Vancouver’s Marina Housing Co-op. They were overjoyed at their good fortune. That is, until a representative of the co-op informed them that they wouldn’t continue the couple’s application until the gender of seven-month-pregnant Michelle’s baby was revealed.

No luck after all.

At the time, Michelle and Krisjan, who already had a two-year-old son, didn’t know the sex of their new baby. A co-op member left a voicemail indicating that because the sex of the baby was unknown, they wouldn’t be considered for the unit.

The reason: Boys and girls aren’t allowed to share rooms. And if the baby was a girl, it would violate the policy.

 

If that sounds odd --- that's because it is.

The Co-op has refused to give a public record of it’s rules, but Hurtig and Gottfried hold the position that Marina is following Canada’s Mortgage and Housing Corporation Guideline. It suggests that children of the same sex shouldn’t be living in the same room if they are over the age of five.

Could discrimination be at play?

Like most parents, Michelle and Krisjan believe it should be up to them whether or not their son and daughter share a room — not the co-op. The reasoning made no sense to the couple.

Says Michelle, “No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t really wrap my brain around it.”

The couple has some strong feelings about the decision.

Gottfriend isn’t holding back about his thoughts on the matter:

“It’s discrimination. We get the room if our children are the same sex and we don’t get the room if our children are not the same sex. It’s very, very clear-cut discrimination.”