Can shared housing be a crucial tool for cities, offering attainable and suitable housing options for single adults?
In recent years, cities across the U.S. have seen the reemergence of shared housing, a housing typology that was largely regulated out of existence in many U.S. cities beginning in the late 1950s. At this time, shared housing had become stigmatized and associated with poor living conditions. Cities enacted policies to prevent shared housing from being developed and to promote the production of housing designed for nuclear families: these policy decisions are reflected in much of our housing stock today.
There is a mismatch between the population of New York City and its housing stock, which has led to a growing unmet need for housing options suitable and affordable for single adults.
Nearly one-third of the city’s households are single people living alone. The number of the city’s single adults is growing, and rising land values and rents have limited their housing options. As a result, many are living in informal shared arrangements, which can be crowded and unstable. Of NYC’s single (unmarried) adults (age 21+) today, 23 percent are low-income (making $58,481 or less) and living with roommates or other relatives.
These trends demonstrate the demand for shared housing in NYC, which is mirrored in cities across the world. Armed with new digital technologies and helped by the increasingly pervasive “sharing economy,” some entrepreneurs and private companies have begun to offer shared housing as an aspirational, market-based housing option. In NYC, the design and development of the typology are more constrained than in most other cities due to the City’s rigid regulations. However, new shared housing providers in NYC have still seen considerable success.
The facilitation and regulation of shared housing are being explored by the City of New York as a potential policy tool to help satisfy an unmet housing need and achieve affordable housing goals.
The City recognizes the clear need for more housing options for single adults and sees the potential for Shared Housing to help achieve affordable housing goals. Yet like many other cities, New York is also grappling with how to allow shared housing to be developed while regulating the typology so that its past challenges do not resurface.
In 2018, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development launched ShareNYC, its ongoing initiative to gather experience, knowledge, and insight into the development, operation, benefits, and challenges of shared housing; and to explore how new shared housing development could be used to offer a broader range of housing options.
CHPC’s Making Shared Housing Work initiative contributes to the City’s regulatory exploration of shared housing.
This simple guide, Making Shared Housing Work, pulls out the core themes that expert shared housing practitioners say should be considered by operators and regulators.
Resident Compatibility
Bathroom Sharing
Kitchen Sharing
Private Bedroom Quality
Sense Of Home
Privacy
Conflict Resolution
Safety & Security
Lease Arrangements
Cleanliness
Community & Convenience
Living in and operating shared housing differs greatly from a typical residential building. However, if the design and the management of this typology are regulated well, shared housing can be a crucial tool for cities, offering attainable and suitable housing options for single adults.