Good news for those of us who sometimes wax nostalgic for the dorm days from college, as a recent report reveals that co-living among working adults is on the rise.
Also known as communal living [1], co-living appears to be the next big thing as far as housing trends go in 2020.
Likened to what college dorm life was like during our days of academia, co-living is becoming more and more popular as a way to save money in living expenses. This trend is especially gaining steam in the nation’s higher-priced cities and among the millennial generation struggling with inflating rental rates.
By definition, co-living brings together a group of people, most often who have never even met one another before, and finds them living among one another in a shared makeshift community. Such communal living often affords its residents private sleeping areas, with shared spaces for cooking, work, and sometimes bathing facilities. Hence the strong correlation between this mode of living and the good ole’ days in the college dorms.
It is not news that millennials have been long-plagued with personal finance struggles, among which include their seeming inability to afford their own homes. This housing crisis has sent many such millennials running back home to mom and dad, living in the basement with free rent in order to save. Co-living offers these millennials an alternative to returning to the nest, and also allows their parents to enjoy their empty nest for once and for all.
With co-living becoming much more accepted and popular, the options for those seeking such accommodations have grown exponentially. Among the plethora of brands that have come out of the woodwork to host such co-living spaces includes WeWork, which opened two locations under the name “WeLive” and offer residents short-term rental contracts with shared common spaces, as well as other incentives such as housekeeping, high design, and a social atmosphere—all within the budget.
One resident of a co-living space, Cassidy Claire Risien shared her experience with co-living: “I had been living by myself and it was no longer sustainable.” After finding her co-living arrangement, Risien loves it, while also agreeing it may not be for everyone: “I initially planned to stay for six months, but I can anticipate myself staying for a long time.”