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Silicon Valley Thinks It Invented Roommates. They Call It 'Co-living' (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Have you heard of this cool new trend called co-living? It's a bit like co-working, except instead of sharing an office with a bunch of randoms you share a home with a bunch of randoms. Oh, you might be thinking, is it like ye olde concept of "roommates"? Why, yes. Yes it is. As a viral tweet pointed out earlier this week, "co-living", which has inspired a spate of trend-pieces in recent months, is actually "called *roommates* ... you invented ***roommates***." Now, to be fair, co-living isn't just living with a bunch of roommates. No, it's rich millennials living with a bunch of roommates in a fancy building in a recently gentrified part of town. The co-living space is also full of cool amenities like yoga classes and micro-brew coffee bars, meaning you can minimise unnecessary interactions with the outside world. In startup speak, this is what is called "community." The Collective, for example, a co-working space in London, describes co-living as "a way of living focused on a genuine sense of community, using shared spaces and facilities to create a more convenient and fulfilling lifestyle."
I think we actually used to call these nursing homes! ;).
And we're supposed to encourage our daughters to pursue a career in STEM? Wow, that music appreciation diploma is looking like a better lifestyle choice than a STEM degree. I know I'll be encouraging my daughter to avoid an IT related job.
$subject already says all I've to say on the matter.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
'The Collective, for example, a co-working space in London, describes co-living as "a way of living focused on a genuine sense of community, using shared spaces and facilities to create a more convenient and fulfilling lifestyle."'
We also may refer to that as a 'commune', 'compound', or 'cult'
It was on South Park. Their entire half-season was about this. I'm pretty sure South Park invented this, not Silicon Valley.
...it's "Friends"?
I, for one, am enthusiastic about this new form of living. I'm also quite enthusiastic about my "pre-owned" car, which I wouldn't have even considered if it was "used".
Welcome to the progressive wet dream. Home ownership is for the 1% only (and optional). The rest get to live in shared housing, tied to it by monthly rent that is just high enough to ensure they can't accumulate wealth, and just low enough to ensure that anyone can get a 12x12 ft box for themselves. You don't need a bathroom - you can share. You certainly don't need a kitchen - you won't be doing any cooking of your own. And you surely don't need a garage because you'll use public transportation, or god forbid rent once in a while. Everything is disposable... and you're dependent on your betters for every aspect of your life. You won't even have a job of your own - you'll get free money from the government.
Poverty.
Make 100K a year and live like you are 18 with your first apartment, all your life in SV.
To each their own, but if an area can't get rent costs under control, I'll gladly take a pay cut if it means privacy and having my own space. This fine if you are a student, but not beyond that. This sounds like an advertisement to move somewhere else.
Because it is only a matter of timr
"We are The Collective. Your Millennials will be assimilated. Resistance is effort and will hurt your feelings. You will become one with The Collective."
they could live better in NY, despite NY's expensive reputation. Rent an entire apartment in Queens for the price, work in corporate/healthcare/academic I.T rather than chasing the dream of making it big in an "app" "startup". (As if other cities don't have those as well.)
Problem with Silicon Valley is congestion, lack of decent public transport, and the fact that former cities have become bedroom communities for former suburbs, leading to travel patterns not intended by planners 20-30 years ago.
News at 11. The similarities between millennial hipsters and yuppies are significant, including the absolute hatred towards them by those that are outside the culture. I feel like I'm living the 80s all over again sometimes.
the next recession and .com bust will fix rent costs in SV ... until the next bubble, of course. Seems to happen every 10 years or so, get ready.
If I make $50,000 in IT in Silicon Valley can I join your co-living space?
The place roommates used to congregate and had places like pools, rec rooms, bars (sometimes) that roommates liked to use to hang out. I wonder when millennial decide they invented this thing called sex?
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
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Where's my $15 million? I have a website. The app will be released next quarter. It's a totally legit business (and sadly it could be with enough marketing behind it).
I own my home (and have a nice if small kitchen). I can't say that I miss owning a car though -- I can walk or bike to work and grad school these days, there's public transportation, and renting a car occasionally isn't expensive compared to the cost of minding a car. I'll probably get a used motorcycle this year and fix it up -- should satisfy my craving for motorized toys for a while.
Could the summary possibly be any more condescending? I'm fine with the occasional "SV is silly" story, but do we really need another story crapping on millennials?
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
In the 60's we called them communes. (except nobody actually had a job.) Peace, Love, Dope!
Need a way to purge these hippy communes, government has failed us.
Co-nuptuals?
OMG, in Russia in 1919 after Communists came into power they created community leaving and shared everything including husbands, wifes and kids. They abolished institute of marriage and all kids ware shared and supposed to be common for community members. Welcome to communism! I would like to stay where I am now.
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill
After all, we are in the era of the "side hustle". Which I guess is not a side-job in the same way co-living isn't "roommates".
Multiple generations living in a home just to get by. Seems the same for this except you don't have family living with you.
Millennials claim they have invented everything, nothing happened on earth before they were born, and what was already here is theirs to co-opt. Their parents never exposed them to anything, never let them directly experience anything, and never challenged anything they said or did. The current insanity in our society is the end result of doing this for three generations. Critical thinking, strength of character, true diversity of thought, creativity, intestinal fortitude - they are all in their death throes. Lest you think I'm a troll, those parents are my generation. We have been some of the worst parents in history, and have unleashed a crisis on the world of epic proportions. It is a problem we fail to address again and again, even though we know better. Still, no parents are perfect and yet people used to mature regardless - I honestly believe now that some millennials are approaching 40 and nothing about them has changed, that they are beyond help, and they will continue to drag the rest of us down to their level until we say 'enough'.
but this sure as hell is it. Folks can't afford their own place, even into their late 20s or even 40s? Not getting on with the kind of life normal humans are expected to have? No problem, just change the name for all your social ills. A tiny apartment with 5 people crammed into it becomes co-living. Millennials now want 'experiences' instead of houses and cars. You're not single and lonely due to your crap economic position, your an independent free thinker. Now get back to work. These mansions, yachts and private jets (and accompanying private airports) aren't gonna pay for themselves.
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English boarding schools came first. No the Papal and the Holy See beats that. But a monastery is hardly IT work. Leper colonies and penal colones probably don't fit yuppidom.
Japan used to provide their workers cheap homes, think Sanyo, Toyota, - Volksberg in Germany, and Detroit used to be a GM town. IBM and the Manhattan project had their own town. technically a sub or an aircraft carrier is its own city. Sometime later, Silicon Valley, which was after Hollywood.
Google and Microsoft have just figured out reducing degrees of freedom will increase their bottom line? Happy worker = productive worker. Financially stressed with job insecurity = not optimal. The coal mine model , slavery model , Army fodder model. looks like the 1950 model is coming back.
Now, to be fair, co-living isn't just living with a bunch of roommates. No, it's rich millennials living with a bunch of roommates in a fancy building in a recently gentrified part of town.
Now there's an oxymoron if I ever heard one.
>> In startup speak, this is what is called "community."
I believe the proper term is "co-munity".
Co-living suggest cooperation which is too much asumption.
I suggest named it "living threads".With the plus that "thread" and "threat" are close words and in reality too.
And this is exactly what I am looking for. I am a single, 40 y/o man who does not even need a space the size of a one bedroom apartment. I would like something small and studios are hard to find in my area. There is not a huge demand for them. The prices are sky high. By choice, I work in a low-skilled, fairly menial job so I would like to make my meager earnings go a little bit farther. Instead of paying almost 1,000.00 per month for this one bedroom, I could really like a 300 sq foot space with common living room and other areas. All I really need would be a kitchenette, a bed, and maybe a tiny bathroom. This is all about sustainable living from an environmental and wage standpoint.
Everthing is called differently now.
Hitchhiking is called Ubering, your granny's bed-and-breakfast is now called Airbnb, mooching off your friends is now called Couchsurfing and living with Roomates are no longer a Hippie-Commune but Co-living.
Well, if this keeps the hipsters from interacting with the rest of us, I'm all for it!
I remember the first time I heard the term "Makers". It was as if garage tinkerers and fabricators hadn't existed before the vaguely sci-fi Makers had arrived
And the same goes for "Tiny Houses". They are trailers people.... Ridiculously heavy and expensive trailers
Rebranding run amok.
Living near NYC, I'm not one to throw stones about expensive housing markets. But, California's real estate markets (especially around SF/SV) are a level above everything outside of Midtown Manhattan. When old, crappy houses on tiny lots start in the low million-dollar range, and 1-bedroom apartments are renting for over $4000 a month, the system needs to be fixed. Rebranding having to share a small space with "co-living companions" is not the answer. I know not everyone wants a big house and a big lawn, etc. But. people should have options.
I know everyone says the answer is to build more skyscrapers and provide more condos, but i think the answer is actually to have companies realize they don't have to have all of their staff crammed into the same tiny area anymore. We're close enough with UC being what it is today to allow almost everyone in technology fields to work remotely.
This isnâ(TM)t new to SV. Everyone before them did this. Itâ(TM)s called marketing and we all fell for it. They were called villages, towns, military posts, military bases, mining towns, factory towns, retirement homes, campuses, UGA, dormitories, roomies, friends with benefits, cube hotels, etc.
Just 10 years ago the real estate industry was freshening up âoeThe Villageâ. You know, âoeDonâ(TM)t you want to go back to the village?â But the dirt replaced by concrete, metal, and glass; the local food replaced by expensive restaurants; the village heads replaced by an overly expensive and intrusive HOA, I mean VOA! Everything in walking distance but you need a segway. YEAH! Just like a village!
Sounds like a focused rich people circle jerk to protect them from ever having to face how the real world works or ...*gasp*...opinions they don't agree with!! oh no!
Shoes, maybe? Perhaps they'll invent things you can put on your head if it's cold, or something.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
It's this super cool way where you hack your monthly rent bill by having other people live in the same house!
Look dude, it's quite obvious you hate silicon valley and millenials, plus the idea of gentrification, but this is nothing really new nor recent, much less exclusive to millenials or silicon valley. Including the renaming of the idea or separation from stuff like frat houses, roommates or student dormitories.
Think you are some sort of genius for making the association? Think again.
Co-living and other shared styles of housing have been around since early 20th century in one form or another, in several different countries if you didn't know about it including Japan, Denmark, and others.
It's far from being a Silicon Valley thing, and it's targeted towards single people who just graduated and are looking for jobs or just started working, particularly in urban areas where rent is cost prohibitive.
And neither the idea of having ammenities in commonground areas, the gentrification part, positive spins or the general philosophy of it is anything new. It's just how the market works. This is ad targetting. It passes a specific image not only of what you should expect of the space you'll be living in, but also of people landlords are looking for in tenants.
While some people might find this kinda fake or stupid, it's actually not. Saves a whole lot of money and time, plus it's a very effective marketing strategy. And more importantly, this isn't so dissimilar to things like stars and categorization of hotels, vacation spots, and whatnot.
SV has always had the co-bedding lifestyle.
All I can think of when reading that is that movie "The Island". In the end, it's all just an illusion to harvest organs.
Slavery never died.
It just evolved.
"Two men, a neat freak and a slob separated from their wives, have to live together despite their differences."
With my fiancé and her hot friend. Woke up one night to find it wasn't my fiancé on top of me grinding away while my fiancé was asleep on the couch.
A six-figure salary, and you have to resort to room sharing in order to be able to live there. Thanks but, no, thanks. I'll earn less somewhere where I can get my own home and a decent standard of living.
I have seen hindi movies in 70s showing multiple couples sharing a single residence in Mumbai because they can't afford rent. I myself grew up in a house (if you can call it that) which had 8 people and less than 100 sq ft space (no, there is no typo anywhere in this statement).
The 80's were fun and a lot less negativity - except for the whole cold war thing. Although people seem to be down with starting that up again. Seems very watered down and a half hearted attempt. And NK, please. Not the same thing as the largest country on earth pointing 50,000 ICBMs at each other
I had 12 roommates in a five-bedroom Victorian when I was in college during the early 1990's. Rent was $200 per month per person.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
When it only invented YOUR world.
Sucker.
charge you with.
To be fair, for people who think that at age 30, they are entitled to a 3000 sq ft home in the center of Mountain View, within walking distance of both work and shops, the idea of having to get a "roommate" is indeed an "innovation" of sorts.
Not invention, but stolen idea from communist Russia and re-branded as silicone valley cool thing...
"Cancer..., now there we have a branding problem. You don't want that, cancer is expensive.
I got it! 'Closure'!
Congratulations! You've got Closure! Now you can freely spend your savings, and enjoy your days of Closure to the fullest!
So, they invented the Single-home HOA?
You fail because you have an axe to grind.
The Swedes aren't miserable, that would be the Finns. And the Finns are miserable not because of external economic or social factors, they are miserable because that's the national culture! Finnish misery all comes from within and not from without.
The Swedes, Norwegians and Danes are cheery by comparison.
We used to call living with someone else "cohabitation." That's a good word.
Under special circumstances also referred to as "living in sin."
Is there anything we can do to neutralize this threat to our children?
It's bad enough sharing a bathroom with your own family ... what kind of masochists are you??
... Come and knock on our door, we'll be waiting for you!
In fact, "co-living" companies such as HubHaus and similar companies *own* the house, they charge rent per room and service them like a hotel. It's just an expensive boarding house where you don't get any any say on who else rents. It's not like an Uber or AirBNB type sharing app.
Basically this is a move towards corporate rental landlords, but trying to make it sound hip and modern. "Co-living" is in fact an Orwellian euphemism to make it sound nice and friendly rather than an alarming thing where people lose more control over how they live.
Contradiction much? Millennials as a generation as flat fucking broke.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Can you believe these young people? 'Millenials' I believe you call them, disparagingly. Can you believe them wanting to get together in a community of 'liberal' values, people who want to separate themselves from the 35% of Trump-voting, self-described 'patriots'? Wanting to separate themselves from the almost 40% of Australians just voted against gay marriage?
The youth of today have no respect and should get off my lawn. This has never happened before this point. We are surely the first to criticise the next generation. Outrageous!
Everything is ruined!
And this is how virtual bubbles turn into live bubbles.
Roommate was always a problem. In college, we often did have someone living in the same room. Working in Silicon Valley though, mostly it's families in the same room, not strangers lumped together by housing. Strangers share a house, but not the same room. This didn't have its own word until now. Co-living is a pretty lousy word for it though.
You have to make housing that costs so damn much that even professionals need roommates to afford it sound good somehow. So drop the term "roommates" and had some cool-sounding made up euphemism and now it's GOOD that you can't afford your own apartment or house.
Seriously, how housing prices be sustained in places where you can only afford to buy a house when you already have one there to sell?
... are just simply FABulous.
Holy crap, narcissism has become endemic in the tech industry. I miss the money, but I am so happy to have gotten out of the culture.
When I was growing up, 'Roommates' meant people actually sleeping in the same bedroom - bunkbeds optional.
People sharing a house but not bedrooms were called 'Flatmates'.
So for quite some time, I'd turn down offers to be roommates because I snore and I don't want to be murdered in my sleep by someone a few feet away.