Co-living firm offers individual rooms for rent as affordable housing
LONDON: A co-living entity is now offering individual rooms for rent as affordable housing for the elderly.
Low income housing can be hard to find in cities. A new service allows people to share a house with multiple roommates, by leasing a single room.
It’s called co-living. News 4 Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila first started looking into this after receiving a complaint from one of our viewers.
A homeowner contacted us after someone knocked on her door to ask about a room for rent. She wasn’t renting a room and thought it might be some kind of rental scam.
It turned out to be a legitimate business, but her home was listed by mistake.
Janet Williams says the courteous man who knocked on her door said he found her home listed on a rental website.
“Then I went on to my computer after he left, and Googled my own address, and sure enough, it showed up online that my house had several bedrooms for rent,” Janet said.
However, the photos were of another house, not Janet’s, which made her suspicious.
“My second thought was, ‘is somebody scamming these people asking for deposits to come see a place?’”
It turns out a home in Janet’s neighborhood was listed on a site called livehomeroom.com as having rooms for rent. Janet’s address was listed by mistake alongside pictures of that home.
LiveHomeRoom, based in Kansas City, started listing rooms in San Antonio about six months ago.
Founder Johnny Wolff says co-living is a cheaper alternative to leasing an apartment.
“When you live in a homeroom it’s 30 to 40 percent cheaper than living in a studio apartment in the same neighborhood. So, it really is helping those millennials that are buried in college debt get out of that debt and be able to buy their own home sooner,” Wolff said.
The address mistake involving Janet’s home was quickly corrected. Wolff says 80 percent of people who lease rooms on his site take the online virtual tour and don’t see the house in person until they move in.
Some housing advocates recommend visiting any rental property before putting down money just to avoid misunderstandings.
“Do ask to inspect that unit before you actually send any money in, you want to be able to inspect the interior of the unit, first to verify the unit is actually for rent, but also to verify that the amenities that are advertised are actually there,” said Sandra Tamez of the Fair Housing Council of Greater San Antonio.
The Fair Housing Council also recommends renters do online research on addresses and check with the Better Business Bureau before making a deposit on any property.
