Despite its growing popularity, many people are still unfamiliar with the concept of coliving, so let’s get that taken care of first. Coliving is a very flexible term that can refer to one of many types of arrangements where single adults, couples, or even whole families live together in a space that has at least some kind of common area. You may be thinking that this sounds exactly like simply having a few roommates, and indeed it can refer to an arrangement as simple as that. However, much of what coliving has come to encompass stretches beyond that, and draws its inspiration from the very human need to live within a close group of friends in a shared community.
For 99% of the time that humans have existed on this earth, we have lived in groups of closely-knit communities, and the situation we find ourselves in today (where we usually live with at most a spouse and children) is not at all what evolution has prepared us for. It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that so many of us experience depression, anxiety, and a whole host of other mental illnesses. The fact is that we are simply not meant to live like this!
That is where the concept of coliving comes in. You, of course, have a private space to call your own, but you will share a range of other spaces with your friends and neighbors. The specifics can vary greatly from one coliving arrangement to the next, but everything from workout rooms, to laundry rooms, to swimming pools, and even kitchens and living rooms can become shared spaces where life feels more like a constant episode of Friends than it feels like the lonely grind so many of us have to endure on a daily basis.
Besides the advantage of quickly developing a community to belong to, coliving spaces also tend to be far less expensive and have far more amenities than normal apartments – and that makes sense. After all, instead of having every type of space duplicated a hundred times over, many spaces are shared and this efficiency makes everything less expensive for everybody.
Coliving in Houston
If this all sounds tempting and intriguing to you, you are not alone. Spaces like these are popping up all over the country and Houston is no exception. Perhaps the most notable example of this is CoHousing Housten. This new development plans, in their own words, “to creating an inclusive, diverse, urban village inside the loop in the East End.” What that means in practice is that people of all ages, genders, orientations, ethnicities, and backgrounds can live, work, and share many of the same spaces together. One of the great things about this project is that it is already underway, so you can stop by and see for yourself what a coliving arrangement can look like.
Other Benefits
Though the primary impetuses for the coliving movement have traditionally been community and affordability, this type of living arrangement has proven to have other beneficial outcomes as well. Chief among these is the difference it can make for the environment. It is the ultimate green living concept. I mean, just think about what coliving achieves. It allows for more people to live together more efficiently in less space. By coliving people can realize small economies of scale that are not possible with the traditional housing model. Not only is the physical footprint of the buildings people live in drastically decreased, but all of the accompanying ecological damage is also as well. Electricity, water usage, and carbon dioxide emissions are all significantly curtailed in a coliving arrangement.
While there is no doubt that coliving does not fit the bill for everyone, it is also true that this new model of living together is gaining traction and our society has yet to have realized the many benefits that it offers. Even if the idea sounds a bit strange to you, it might be worth taking a good look at it. If having a built-in community, paying less in rent, and being environmentally friendly sound like things that you would be interested in pursuing, don’t let the social pressure of traditional society stop you from exploring this increasingly popular way of life.
