With housing prices increasing faster than salaries, many younger people are looking to alternative solutions. But is co-living a brilliant innovation or an exercise in extended adolescence?
21st Century Boarding Houses
Co-living setups are a little like luxury dormitories or old-fashioned boarding houses. It used to be common for single professionals to rent lodgings in a home with private rooms and shared amenities, but eventually full-service apartments replaced these shared living arrangements. Now, they’re making a comeback.
From Co-Working to Co-Living
Over the last decade, co-working has become increasingly common. Investors secure a large open space—often in an appealing post-industrial setting, such as a textile mill—and subdivide it into private offices and open desks. These spaces usually have a kitchen area, at least one meeting room, and, of course, top-speed internet access. Tenants rent offices or floating desks by the month, giving the nomadic Millennial a space to call home.
The same basic ideas apply to co-living spaces, but they present greater challenges to developers. Building a 500-unit apartment building is much more expensive and involved than renovating an empty factory floor.
Slow to Catch On
In theory, co-living offers the best of all worlds. The private rooms, though often small, offer sanctuary at a more affordable price than a studio apartment. The shared spaces provide plenty of opportunities to socialize with other residents. Upscale urban co-living spaces offer fitness facilities, outdoor spaces, entertainment, and on-site restaurants.
Despite the advantages for unattached city dwellers, the co-living concept has been slow to catch on. In part, it’s because the idea is so new—or so old-fashioned, depending on how you look at it. People may not quite know how to deal with the idea of living in a glorified dorm room. It presents challenges for entertaining and relationships, and it’s certainly not a setup suited to starting a family.
Room to Grow
Despite the slow start to the co-living dream, rising rents are forcing young urban professionals to look for alternative solutions. New co-living spaces are in the works in cities across America where space is at a premium. To be viable, developers will need to generate better PR for co-living as a concept. More luxurious amenities and an emphasis on community will go a long way to offsetting the downsides to the model.
