Re:America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
by bcoates on Thursday July 18, 2019 @06:44PM
(#20474679)
Roommates are mostly a side-effect of banning SROs. If the NIMBYs had their way they'd be illegal too. Urban singles needing housing isn't new.
Re:America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
by bobthepanda on Thursday July 18, 2019 @06:52PM
(#20474738)
It's also no longer socially taboo for single roommates of mixed genders to live together. And of course people are staying single longer, meaning that there are now more urban singles.
Re:America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births
by leetcrew on Thursday July 18, 2019 @07:18PM
(#20474924)
that may be a part of it, but I doubt it's the whole story. people don't just need a small room and a bed; they need kitchens, bathrooms, etc. these can be shared across a floor or a small building, but there's only so many strangers that can share a kitchen before it isn't useful to anyone. it's hard to imagine this being better than at least having the chance to find 3-4 people to split an apartment with.
A bigger issue is that a lot of formerly big housing, at least in New York, has now been subdivided, since the whole is less than the sum of its rents. You are also seeing a large rise in people willing to be roommates with people they don’t know, so if you have three income-earning singles they’ll outbid a two-income family. And students are a special case of that, since the rents will go as high as their student loan balances can sustain.