Co-living

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Co-living^[1] is a residential community living model that accommodates three or more biologically unrelated people living in the same dwelling unit.^[2] Generally co-living is a type of intentional community that provides shared housing for people with similar values or intentions.^[3] The co-living experience may simply include group discussions in common areas or weekly meals, although will oftentimes extend to shared workspace and collective endeavors such as living more sustainably^[4]. An increasing number of people across the world are turning to co-living in order to unlock the same benefits as other communal living models (such as communes or cohousing), including "comfort, affordability, and a greater sense of social belonging." There is a difference between coliving, flex living, and shared living^[5]. These terms are interchangeably used across regions.

Co-living as a modern concept traces its origins to shared living models of the 19th and 20th centuries such as tenements in the UK, boarding houses in the US, and chawls in western India, yet ancient forms of communal living such as the longhouse date back thousands of years. Its contemporary form has gained prominence in recent years due to a combination of factors, including increased urbanization rates, a lack of affordable housing options, greater rates of disability requiring group home or assisted living arrangements, and a growing interest in lifestyles not dependent upon long-term contracts.