Housing here was a collective conquest before it was a market: on 20 June 1926, the 20th arrondissement inaugurated the Campagne à Paris — 92 houses won by cooperative, on a filled-in former gypsum quarry, by workers, civil servants and employees who, each alone, would never have had a roof of their own; the flatshare apartment applies exactly the same lever to rent today. Pooling to live better: the district wrote down the method a full century ago, and its groups still recite it, lease after lease.
The figures side squarely with the method: around €1,950 a month, charges aside, for three bedrooms between Gambetta and Pelleport — eastern Paris keeps its word here, and the generous surfaces follow suit. The neighbours complete the arc: the 11th arrondissement brings Oberkampf and its long evenings closer, the 12th unrolls its big family plans all the way to the Vincennes woods.
Do you let a through-plan flat at Gambetta or a townhouse at Saint-Blaise? A listing marked group tenancy reaches teams that already think collectively here: young workers of the East, Tenon hospital staff, craftsmen and creatives from the courtyards — and every flatmate in that public knows what a joint file is worth in added guarantees. Entire rent, plan, height on the street: provide all the material, the district forms the queue at your door.
Frequently asked questions
What gave the 20th its collective streak?
From a working-class history where people only got by together: housing cooperatives, mutual-aid societies of every kind, shared gardens that still endure from Belleville to Charonne. A flatshare apartment fits in without forcing — the neighbourhood understands the principle before the first building party of the spring.
Gambetta, Ménilmontant, Saint-Blaise: where should the group land?
Gambetta for the direct metro line, the biggest surfaces and the daily covered market; Ménilmontant for the slope, the cafés and the life that runs late; Saint-Blaise and Charonne for the village spirit around the steeple, the small squares and the low houses. Budgets stay remarkably close — altitude and the tempo of your evenings decide.
What does the share come to in the pooled East?
Clearly under the lone rented room: nothing dislodges the reference — €744 for a room each month, charges included, at LocService — and a Gambetta flatshare apartment divided by three or four places each flatmate's share below it, living room, balcony and sometimes a view over all of Paris included in the price.
Can a group rent a house in the 20th?
Here, yes — and almost nowhere else in Paris: Saint-Blaise, Charonne and a few villas line up townhouses, some of which really do reach the rental market. They go very fast and demand a complete file handed over at the viewing — set the alerts early and prepare the guarantors before the viewing, not after it.
Landlord in the 20th: what should you take from the local method?
That precision is your best ally: a listing marked sharing allowed that gives everything — entire rent, plan, storey, itemised charges — draws teams that are already organised, very much in the district's image. The flatmate here arrives with guarantors lined up and a house charter in mind: answer them at the same level, and the lease signs within the week, often by the second viewing.
