Seems like the title of the article is a little misleading. This appears to be a low-commitment rental opportunity with amenities. A commune by definition, would require guests to invest a little more that plain cash to be a part of it, like shared assets, labor and property. Imagine there's a market for it, but it's just simply not a commune.
1
Yuk! Too common.
2
As a business model it is more like a boarding home. High turnaround of guests, 30 days stays. A good solution for someone looking for a more permanent arrangement, yet not a hotel.
As a business model, the employee, who would approve of a renter is not "on site" to make informed decisions as to "who belongs to the community". A business seeks pure profit from a community.
It reminds me of the "Golden Girls" arrangement. Community living is a good solution to many issues in society, and a convenience for many, but does not lend itself to business. It is a very individual choice to choose who you live with, and where you live.
The renters average stay is often 30 days, making it more of a boarding home, without the administrative staff. If the point is to turn a profit, there is not much incentive to wait for the right person for the community.
As a business model, the employee, who would approve of a renter is not "on site" to make informed decisions as to "who belongs to the community". A business seeks pure profit from a community.
It reminds me of the "Golden Girls" arrangement. Community living is a good solution to many issues in society, and a convenience for many, but does not lend itself to business. It is a very individual choice to choose who you live with, and where you live.
The renters average stay is often 30 days, making it more of a boarding home, without the administrative staff. If the point is to turn a profit, there is not much incentive to wait for the right person for the community.
4
Anyone for a fully-staffed kitchen with a French chef, walks in the woods,
and later dancing a la Astaire/Rogers to the tune of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"?
and later dancing a la Astaire/Rogers to the tune of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"?
2
Sounds like a very expensive hostel. In a hostel you get an instant community, you have a common kitchen/play areas and events/outings are organized by the hostel.
3
yea, true, but not the same level - available income can be a 'gatekeeper' or door opener to experience and learning.
Another example of how government regulations have potentially outlived their usefulness or are going to be misapplied (and of course the comment comes from a lawyer):
“I think it’s only a matter of time before the courts recognize them as effectively landlords who are running S.R.O.’s,” said David E. Frazer, a Manhattan lawyer who represents tenants.
The SRO rules were designed to prevent 10 people from squeezing into a 100 sq ft. apartment, and not a situation like this. If someone wants to live in what might sound like a SRO, maybe let them if the price point is high enough. There are plenty of SROs in the city that need investigation for nightmarish conditions, this is not one of those situations.
“I think it’s only a matter of time before the courts recognize them as effectively landlords who are running S.R.O.’s,” said David E. Frazer, a Manhattan lawyer who represents tenants.
The SRO rules were designed to prevent 10 people from squeezing into a 100 sq ft. apartment, and not a situation like this. If someone wants to live in what might sound like a SRO, maybe let them if the price point is high enough. There are plenty of SROs in the city that need investigation for nightmarish conditions, this is not one of those situations.
1
No wonder many millennials come across as immature, self-absorbed, and extremely "young" -- they do not grow up! Who still wants to live in a college dorm?! I bought my own apartment 18 years ago at 26 and could not wait to have my independence. This is why areas such as LES, East Village, Meatpacking are becoming unattractive areas to hang out in since these "kids" are stumbling around wasted, puking on every corner - they are still acting as if they are in college. Let's ship 'em out!
5
As a "millennial" who lived in Manhattan for over 8 years and now lives in Oakland, I find such a statement to be both inaccurate and a rather laughable assumption. As someone who has had and currents has a desk job with a decent salary but am also an artist, and so I, and others like me have different needs than others who chose to live alone. Financially, it is one of the only ways you can both live in a place where there is any semblance of upward mobility and afford to do so without going completely broke. A communal living situation takes an incredible amount of work, communication, cooking, cleaning, and boundary creation. I am much the better for having lived in such a situation. Not to mention, these expensive co-op situations are the minority, not the majority. Most are cheap, and built with a sustainable community in mind. Just because people chose to live differently does not make them disgusting, any less hard working, or "in college."
6
Do you think anyone at the age of 26 could afford to buy in NYC today without substantial help from parents/family? The prices are not what they were 18 years ago.
2
Um, I think housing prices in the city have increased just a teeny, tiny bit since 1997.
7
It sounds very interesting, but super expensive. You can rent a 2 BR apt in a non-doorman building for $4,000 - $4500 a month, so not sure why you would need to pay $2500 a month for a room in a huge apt. with tons of other people. (how many people are sharing that bathroom? Who cleans the place? storing food in the fridge must be a nightmare.... oh wait, milennials don't cook. They order in or eat out. Maybe the Chef gets paid to do the cooking..) Why not just move into the Chelsea Hotel if you want an interesting atmosphere? (oops, maybe this 'is' the Milennial answer to the Chelsea Hotel, except at 10 times the cost). In my day "commune" living was done because it was cheap.
3
Seems everyone has distorted views of what's 'affordable'. Where did you come up with that $4,000 amount for a 2BR in a non-doorman bldg.? Are you implying that's a normal, much less a 'low', rent? Many people in NYC are paying far, far less than $4000, for a 2BR, I can assure you. It's just that, not everyone's 2BR apt. is of the Sex in the City version. NYC is comprised of FIVE boroughs, with many many neighborhoods within each of those boroughs, good blocks and bad blocks, old housing stock and new, and all price points in between. So many people always seem to forget that, and think you simply 'cannot' find anything decent in NYC (i.e., Mant or Western Bk) for under X number of dollars. Whatever you expect, that's exactly what you will find. The Mexicana dishwasher expects to pay no more than $1200 for a 2BR apt., and so that's what he'll find. You on the other hand perhaps think that $4000 is the norm for a 2BR, and those are the only apts/price-range in which you'll look, so you'd have no idea if there were anything else out there.
2
This is just a way of stretching out the college experience -- that sense of community we enjoyed in dorms, residence houses and shared rentals off campus. All that was nice, as I recall, and I can see the appeal of having a ready-made social group in a crowded city. But you lose me with the mention of brands, networking, and so on. Have young people really become so mercenary?
10
Overheard in The Millennial Commune:
"So, like, does anyone here know anyone who has a house in the Hamptons?"
"So, like, does anyone here know anyone who has a house in the Hamptons?"
10
Ah, those savvy millennials.
Used to be, people were perfectly capable of finding three or four like-minded strangers to room with without the use of a broker.
Used to be, people were perfectly capable of finding three or four like-minded strangers to room with without the use of a broker.
20
Monetize, monetize.
10
"I wanted to live in a place where I could invite people and to build something that is bigger than the sum of its parts."
That something is called a FAMILY. No wonder the marriage rate has plummeted. Young people haven't changed in their needs. They still need community, love and intimacy but have somehow avoided commitment and settling down. Good Luck. At some point it won't work. The "dorming" experience can only last so long. In the 60's it was called communes.
That something is called a FAMILY. No wonder the marriage rate has plummeted. Young people haven't changed in their needs. They still need community, love and intimacy but have somehow avoided commitment and settling down. Good Luck. At some point it won't work. The "dorming" experience can only last so long. In the 60's it was called communes.
6
So people can or should only be able to find community, love and/or intimacy by 'committing' (to marriage?) and 'settling down' (by becoming a boring married person)? Clearly that's what you are implying ...as does much of society...that only 'responsible' people couple up or nest. And everyone else who doesn't 'settle down' must be the opposite: wild and reckless and irresponsible. Heck, even the very term 'settle down' is such a loaded term if you think about it. It's so marriage-centric.
1
If I could swing $4000 a month for rent, I'd get my own apartment.
29
Seriously! Nuts!
2
Maybe I missed it, but who does the cooking? The cleaning? The grocery shopping? Pets allowed? Etc., etc. This scenario doesn’t sound at all appealing to me. But if some people like it, then all the best to them!
10
"Like-minded individuals" is oxymoronically dull sounding. Living inside "social media" makes people narrow-minded and severely unimaginative. Grow up and move on out before all is lost.
40
Excess ain't rebellion
You're buyin' what they're sellin'
--Cake
You're buyin' what they're sellin'
--Cake
16
Just more Dullenial laziness. Make friends? Maintain your own household? Nah, I'll just "share" it.
11
'...But perhaps the biggest drawback is the 30-day lease that many co-living advocates rally behind...'
How is this not simply an extended stay hotel with New Age amenities?
So why should it not be regulated as such?
And how is paying for a service now considered 'sharing'?
How is this not simply an extended stay hotel with New Age amenities?
So why should it not be regulated as such?
And how is paying for a service now considered 'sharing'?
34
Can we stop using the phrase "sharing economy"? It makes the disappearance of the middle class and the dearth of affordable housing sound like an innovation, not a tragedy. Necessity, not the disruptive tech model, is the underlying cause: enormous student debt, lack of jobs, lack of reasonable pay, exorbitant health care & insurance costs... (Oh look, the property owners -- like Stage 3 -- are former Lehman, JP Morgan, Bear Stern & other banks... with whom you shared billions of your taxes to bail out. Must be okay then.)
61
I have heard more than one panhandler on the street use the line, "Share some change?"
8
A better term is the "siphoning-up" economy.
5
A genius idea that solves many problems for what appears mainly young people. Reading the comments, the article does beg questions about the law and how they might be overriding housing laws. It is not for everyone, but that is community oriented, solves a real housing problem for young people, competes with other org's like Oyster, allows for not having to sign long term or even a one year lease, all the amenities; it sounds really great. I wish them all the success in the world. The screening process does make it sound a little like a clique but why not interview and get to know applicants who may or may not fit in? Not everyone is borderline poor or struggling, some kids have money for the high end and young people starting out have the opp too. They did not mention pets, though, and for all the money in the world, who wants to live without your beloved pet? It would be a real deal breaker for me not to take my dog. Good luck and success to them, it's a great idea, so glad it is international, like Oyster in ways and changing rental options with more flexibility and community. Now please build one for artists of all ages who can bring their pets along with them. :)
2
Sounds like a nightmare.
38
It's somewhat a good idea. It's for people who are alone, but don't want to be lonely.
4
Yes, let's make our descent into pittance wages, obscene rent, multi-family dwelling, and the sharing economy, as innocuous as possible. Let's turn housing into a college dorm--but without all of those weird people we never really understood. And let's commodify it, because we can solve any problem with the market!
50
As described in the article, another form of discrimination--the clique!
27
You lost me at "Excite us!".
64
Exactly. After dramatizing their lives on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others, why not make them dramatize their lives to be someone's roommate?
6
Now that this "great idea" has been published, I would imagine....and I would EXPECT...that the NYC Building Department will visit the building and, quite possibly, issue a Vacate Order.
You can't run a what appears to be a "boarding house" in a multiple dwelling in NYC, renting "rooms" out in a "big" apartment. This even goes beyond what someone below called an SRO condition, considering that SROs have to comply with specific building and fire laws for them.
Another "great" idea with very little forethought or research of laws.
And I'm sure that the participants will not get their $4Gs back, either.
You can't run a what appears to be a "boarding house" in a multiple dwelling in NYC, renting "rooms" out in a "big" apartment. This even goes beyond what someone below called an SRO condition, considering that SROs have to comply with specific building and fire laws for them.
Another "great" idea with very little forethought or research of laws.
And I'm sure that the participants will not get their $4Gs back, either.
26
When the landlord of the Loft does the math, the rent will surely go up.
12
Guess what, people, if you play your cards right, you could own a three-bedroom apartment in NYC for less than $2,500 a month. I will say no more, but you need to look beyond these juvenile living arrangements.
10
You think you can own a 3br apt in NYC for less than $2500/mo? Maybe above 125th St, or in the Bronx or somewhere that isn't all that safe, or takes an hour to commute each way, or isn't renovated or even all that nice, etc…
2
Its called affordable housing and is located all over the 5 boroughs. Tenants have more protections than most owners.
2
Curated? Ugh. The word itself would turn me the other way.
Sounds like a frat house to me. A very expensive frat house.
Sounds like a frat house to me. A very expensive frat house.
74
Sounds like an introvert's nightmare.
100
My thought also.
11
Exactly my reaction!
12
NYC is a city of loners who love living in this huge city and will pay two thirds of their income to live alone in a tiny apartment.
The trade off is well worth it.
The trade off is well worth it.
12
The service is clearly aimed at insulating progressive Millenials from other people with conflicting views or lifestyles. If such a service were used to filter out other races or socio-economic groups, would it garner a different type of journalistic treatment? In fact, the pictures that accompany the story make me wonder if the service has that unintended effect.
53
I guess you missed the 53 year old black guy living in the house. And how do you know they're progressive? Most techies are more libertarian. And the entrepreneurs in the article?
Funny how some people just see what they want to see.
Funny how some people just see what they want to see.
1
You also saw what you wanted – one person who slipped through the net doesn't mean there is no net.
1
One of how many people discussed? Ten? I see plenty.
$4,000 per month for a room?! This looks like it would have been a fun place to live when I was younger but it's incredibly expensive, even at the low-end, for a room. No wonder millennials are living with their parents.
30
The low end, $1600, for a room with cleaning service and laundry is, unfortunately, very reasonable for some of these areas.
3
Yuck. Cyberpunk arcologies are next. But I am a loner from the 20th Century, a snarky Xer not a perky little Millennial. I enjoy solitude and visiting my carefully curated collection of friends, not living with them. And around here $1400 per month lets one rent an entire house, or even (gasp) pay a mortgage. Good luck, trendy Coasters! I will stay in Podunk land and be a visitor to your streamlined futropolises.
36
How much does your car cost you every month?
3
The freedom of being able to go beyond "walking distance" without crowding into a subway car or city bus with a bunch of hostile strangers is well worth the price of a car.
7
@NM - cars are a trivial expense compared to the costs of living in NYC.
7
How NYC to have a commune at 4k per month. Most milennials can't afford that. I thought the point of a commune was to live on the cheap in exchange for household tasks, etc.
64
Mommy and Daddy will help out. They are best friends with their kids these days.
What will the little Evans an Keeleys of America do when the 'rents are dead and the inheritance runs out? Why does this problem not worry me? Oh, but I'm just an old snarky Xer...Nevermind, as the late Kurt Cobain, my generation's patron saint, said.
What will the little Evans an Keeleys of America do when the 'rents are dead and the inheritance runs out? Why does this problem not worry me? Oh, but I'm just an old snarky Xer...Nevermind, as the late Kurt Cobain, my generation's patron saint, said.
15
NYC is a tech hub. There are plenty of young adults in this industry who can afford this housing. Not all of them are 4k. They range from 1,600k - 4k
Very Silicon Valley. Everyone wants to talk about the open vibe, but demur when it comes to talking about costs and profit.
26
"Instead, they sign a 30-day membership agreement, paying from $1,600 to $4,000 a month for a room in an apartment to be shared."
Yeah -- Well...
Some of us can remember when you could rent an entire four or five-bedroom house for $1,600 a month - in the days before Twitter and Facebook - with roommates for whom cooking, baking, cleaning and doing laundry were all considered activities that were just another part of the communal creative experience --
Yes - I know...times change -
Too bad -
Yeah -- Well...
Some of us can remember when you could rent an entire four or five-bedroom house for $1,600 a month - in the days before Twitter and Facebook - with roommates for whom cooking, baking, cleaning and doing laundry were all considered activities that were just another part of the communal creative experience --
Yes - I know...times change -
Too bad -
33
My first Manhattan studio apartment on W.14th St. rented for $1250/mo. in 2003. Same apt rents for $3200 today. The only thing they did was replace the builder grade vanity & shower with another builder grade vanity & shower, put some cheap white subway tile in the kitchen & swap the cabinet faces & white appliances for "stainless." It's just a 400sq. ft. studio.
6
As the article strongly hints, the only people enjoying this really are the profiteers who are making money by evading laws on Single Room Occupancies in crowded cities. This is shameful, not "cool".
45
The laws are shameful.
2
There could potentially be so many fair housing issues with such arrangements.
In NYC, for example, housing that is not owner occupied needs to be open to everyone without regard to "real or perceived race, color, national origin, creed (religion), disability, sexual orientation, marital status, partnership status, gender (including gender identity and sexual harassment), alienage or citizenship status, age, lawful occupation, lawful source of income or familial status" (that is, having children).* So groups selecting tenants by the industry in which they work, by age range, or for their unmarried and childless status (among other possible preferences) would most likely be breaking the law.
In NYC, for example, housing that is not owner occupied needs to be open to everyone without regard to "real or perceived race, color, national origin, creed (religion), disability, sexual orientation, marital status, partnership status, gender (including gender identity and sexual harassment), alienage or citizenship status, age, lawful occupation, lawful source of income or familial status" (that is, having children).* So groups selecting tenants by the industry in which they work, by age range, or for their unmarried and childless status (among other possible preferences) would most likely be breaking the law.
49
People do this all the time in New York. Roommates move out and the people who live the the apartment have to choose new ones, and use a variety of criteria to do so. I don't know the specifics of the fair housing laws when it comes to this, but I'm currently in the process of finding someone to take the second bedroom in my apartment. Is it really illegal for me to decide I don't want to live with a man, or with someone who has children or a spouse?
3
I'ts an MTV reality show but with no cameras.
40
These are "Millennials" we're speaking of...
Cameras out the wazoo, last I checked, and everyone so proud to have nailed the starring role in their very own little MYoPic(tm).
Cameras out the wazoo, last I checked, and everyone so proud to have nailed the starring role in their very own little MYoPic(tm).
1
I happened on a room or a suite at the top of a building with little areas dotting the luxurious but otherwise spare penthouse apartment.
In the room, various individuals were standing and talking to each other. When I passed one, a man. He stood above what appeared to be his belongings and his name was Tom. He was taller, a bit red-faced, pudgy. He wore a plaid, long-sleeved Pendelton. He was balding but I could tell his hair was brown. He looked over at me as I was coming toward the group, but he continued his conversation: “As an entire country, we are being brain-washed, within the confines of a mass media, we’ve been told what to believe, how to look at the world. Although our eyes, ears, and mouths are the same, we still think a certain way that is controlled. My belief in God was laid across my brain as an early teething blanket destined to calm my fears, which were great, where I knew I needed my mother and father.”
There were beds, actually, mattresses on the floor, say a lamb’s skin throw rug here and a little lamp on the floor over there. You had to be careful when stepping through the obstacle course of these belongings. It was like a dorm room for adults. It turned out that the people were living there. Total strangers had come together with barely any belongings, and they would have parties and they would invite other strangers and I noticed a packet of candy with my name on it and a list of email addresses of people I knew...
In the room, various individuals were standing and talking to each other. When I passed one, a man. He stood above what appeared to be his belongings and his name was Tom. He was taller, a bit red-faced, pudgy. He wore a plaid, long-sleeved Pendelton. He was balding but I could tell his hair was brown. He looked over at me as I was coming toward the group, but he continued his conversation: “As an entire country, we are being brain-washed, within the confines of a mass media, we’ve been told what to believe, how to look at the world. Although our eyes, ears, and mouths are the same, we still think a certain way that is controlled. My belief in God was laid across my brain as an early teething blanket destined to calm my fears, which were great, where I knew I needed my mother and father.”
There were beds, actually, mattresses on the floor, say a lamb’s skin throw rug here and a little lamp on the floor over there. You had to be careful when stepping through the obstacle course of these belongings. It was like a dorm room for adults. It turned out that the people were living there. Total strangers had come together with barely any belongings, and they would have parties and they would invite other strangers and I noticed a packet of candy with my name on it and a list of email addresses of people I knew...
5
“We live in a super-disconnected city that has tons and tons of people, but it can feel really lonely here.”
Funny that constantly being connected to others has led to this "super-disconnected" feeling. Look up from your screens every so often. There's an entire world out there!
Funny that constantly being connected to others has led to this "super-disconnected" feeling. Look up from your screens every so often. There's an entire world out there!
67
I suggest that anyone considering living in a communal apartment (and everyone else) purchase a copy of Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication: A Language of LIfe - and consider instituting its teachings as part of the commune's practical and spiritual offerings.
7
This lifestyle reminds me a lot of never leaving the office. Fitting in with the "culture", living in building reminiscent of an office or hotel, having meetings, etc. Are these people ever aloud to relax and be themselves?
26
The narrowing of the perceptual funnel has led to sheep children (now young sheep adults) who will do anything for approval. They can't be themselves because they grew up with too much information about everyone else.
1
When would they have time or the inclination to know who they are?
You mean you don't also use your household to build a brand?
While I enjoy meditation and dinner parties, something about this seems insufferable. Will Gen X be the final generation who enjoyed a sense of "self", as in "I'm confident in who I am, I'm able to be alone sometimes and find it enjoyable, and I do not have to surround myself with people EXACTLY like me."? For the price these people are paying, they could afford to live alone, even in Williamsburg.
55
What do people who are not really extroverted do to get a liviing space like that? It seems like you have to be a cheerleader for group activities to secure a spot here. Do we all deserve a nice place to live?
9
You can always rent a plain old apartment with roommates you've never met. Problem is, the hyper-connected iPeople who live in these places will eventually build software that controls your entire life.
1
Upscale and trendy communes, well, I guess that was inevitable in the current scene of young people obsessed with social networking.
I predict next will be branded communes, sponsored by Facebook or Apple or god forbid even the Koch Brothers...
I predict next will be branded communes, sponsored by Facebook or Apple or god forbid even the Koch Brothers...
50
This is not something new or at all related to social networking. For most of America's history, single individuals who moved to cities stayed in communal boarding houses.
13
Not for big bucks they didn't. This is something else. Real boarding houses we could probably use. Ditto affordable SRO's, like the ones they've torn down all over the country.
16
$1600 is not "big bucks" for a room in Williamsburg - in fact, it's flat-out cheap when you factor in things like a cleaning service and laundry. $4K is more expensive, but not absurd for NYC, assuming the building has amenities that are pulling up the price.
2
"Instead, they sign a 30-day membership agreement, paying from $1,600 to $4,000 a MONTH for a ROOM in an apartment to be shared with others who, theoretically, have a similar worldview (...you know..such as ultra political-correctness and who have a fondness for craft pickles and craft stone-ground mustards?)
Someone shoot me now.