Article: original content 📃 What if cities finally legalized adult dorms?

[JNA]

MSN

But new research out Tuesday from the Pew Charitable Trusts and Gensler, a global architecture firm, lays out a fundamentally different approach for turning offices into apartments.

Their plan centers on converting offices into co-living, dorm-style units, featuring private “micro-apartments” around the perimeter of each floor, with shared kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, and living spaces in the center. This model would not only reduce construction costs by 25 to 35 percent compared to traditional office conversions, but it would also offer rents affordable to people earning well below the area’s median income, and not require hefty security deposits, lowering barriers to entry even further.

Research document:
FLEXIBLE CO-LIVING HOUSING FEASIBILITY STUDY

https://www.gensler.com/doc/pew-gensler-flexible-co-living-housing-feasibility-study.pdf

 

[DVD]

I think this is a great idea. With all the housing problems we have, we need to rethink how we live. We no longer live in a time of houses and apartments. There needs to be some form of group quarters. I mean back in the day we had places for men and women that were essentially micro apartments. I believe they called them flop houses for men and something much more classy for ladies. Why can't we do this again.

 

[luckless pedestrian]

My fair city did last year!

 

[mendelman]

Small housing units doesn't mean substandard housing units.

 

[bureaucrat#3]

I don't think most people realize that single-person households have become so much more common. It's gone from the high teens to 30-40 percent in some areas. While I think there is definitely merit to this, I can't imagine having to deal with the drama of a bunch of adults co-living.

 

[mendelman]

...I can't imagine having to deal with the drama of a bunch of adults co-living.

That's a valid position, but that's for the individual to decide within a market that supplies all/most demand.

I shouldn't think another person wouldn't be up for it just because I may not want to choose it.

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

I can't imagine having to deal with the drama of a bunch of adults co-living.

I feel the same. Bad enough my kids have a hard time picking up after themselves. Imagine what the kitchen or bathroom would look like with adults that more than not, likely do not want to adult.

 

[Doohickie]

There's a new build project here in Fort Worth that's essentially a boarding house. Small units, ~200 sq ft, with a lounge/kitchen common area on each floor.

 

[bureaucrat#3]

That's a valid position, but that's for the individual to decide within a market that supplies all/most demand.

I shouldn't think another person wouldn't be up for it just because I may not want to choose it.

I completely agree and there are times in my life where I would have been open to it. If I was really young or widowed and not ready for the "home".

We've had people proposed tiny house (sheds) villages. The rooms wouldn't have any cooking facilities, restroom, water. Those would be handled through communal buildings. While I think there's some value here for very temporary housing if done right, the people who wanted to do it weren't really interested in things like ADA, safety, support services, or managing it. They thought it would self-govern.

 

[mendelman]

We've had people proposed tiny house (sheds) villages. The rooms wouldn't have any cooking facilities, restroom, water. Those would be handled through communal buildings. While I think there's some value here for very temporary housing if done right, the people who wanted to do it weren't really interested in things like ADA, safety, support services, or managing it. They thought it would self-govern.

Ugh.

For sure we should supply and regulate within a specified min. health/safety standards' distribution though.

 

[DVD]

There's a reason dorm and frats have a den mother on each floor.

 

[Doohickie]

There's a reason dorm and frats have a den mother on each floor.

They do?

 

[bureaucrat#3]

Ugh.

For sure we should supply and regulate within a specified min. health/safety standards' distribution though.

We recently had someone on a community board propose a communal living building for the homeless. They wanted it located behind the police department. They wanted the police to check in on them throughout the day. Through the discussions, people suggested adding fences and lighting for security. This went on for a bit until some figured out they had built a jail.

I've had a hard time with some of alternative housing proposals we've received. I generally want to try some different approaches and think there is no single silver bullet. The problem I have is most of the proposals we get that are unique or inventive are from some of our most notorious slum lords or people who never follow through on what they said.

 

[Dan]

I did it in the FBC I wrote!

A multiunit / collective house is a principal building that looks like a large detached house. It has ① 3 or 4 principal dwelling units, or ② 1 principal dwelling unit with ≤ 10 bedrooms set up for collective living. (Conditions for collective living are in § 272-603.2 C.)

🄲 Collective living: Occupancy of a dwelling unit by ≥ 3 unrelated people, where ① the living arrangement is not transient, temporary, seasonal, or connected to an academic calendar, and ② not limited to members of a club or organization.

A little background: there were many formal communes in the area during the 1960s and 1970s. Communal living among adults is still common in the area to this day. It's technically illegal in area communities with zoning. Residents tend not to have issues with communal living, with one exception: college students, of which there's tens of thousands in the region. The most prominent university in the region, a very large Ivy league school (ever heard of it?), has a much lower ratio of on-campus housing compared to other large universities with relatively few commuter students. The result is spillover of off-campus student housing throughout the area, not just near campus.

 

[fringe]

Ugh.

For sure we should supply and regulate within a specified min. health/safety standards' distribution though.

Savannah GA had a pilot project of tiny buildings for homeless vets. I was in correspondence with the city person in charge of it, but that was pre-pandemic I think. That city saw a steep spike in homeless camps after the 08 collapse.

In our nearby metro city such a dorm style building (likely not approved) had a tenant set a fire inside.

In my college days 50+ yrs ago there were three boarding houses that were open to public for meals and made great meals.

Those are long gone now.