It happens frequently. Students and young professionals crave a desire to live in a vibrant city like New York, but surging rent costs for those who earn even a decent income makes that dream unaffordable.
CoLife, a Charleston, South Carolina-based co-living startup that recently expanded to Charlotte, wants to help end that widespread issue. And it's assisting both renters and homeowners.
The co-living model became especially prominent about seven years ago and since then has attracted interest from the entire multifamily industry, according to a 2020 CBRE report. CoLife is hopping on the trend, matching renters with owner-occupied homes.
The startup, founded in 2022, decided to expand to Charlotte and Atlanta in early April to address the growing affordable-housing crisis in both cities.
"Charleston is a relatively small city where we've had a lot of success, but Atlanta and Charlotte are both 10 times the size each than Charleston, and we just wanted to go to much bigger cities," said Derek Snook, founder of CoLife, on why the company chose to expand here. "Both Atlanta and Charlotte have huge affordability problems as well."
Why Snook founded CoLife
Snook created CoLife based on his own personal experience. In 2010, he voluntarily lived in a halfway house for the homeless, and it helped him fully understand housing problems that people continue to battle today.
What he learned from that journey was the housing crisis is really part of a larger issue of human trust and connection.
"After I finally moved out after a year, I just kept living with different homeowners, and what I noticed was that they provided an amazing experience," Snook said. "Then I also noticed over time, there's a lot of homeowners that actually live alone and they have extra space in their homes, and we've got a huge housing crisis."
According to CoLife, the U.S. has a rental-unit shortage of about 6 million. And about 24 million single people are living in a home with vacant rooms. CoLife enables homeowners to rent out those rooms to anyone who needs an affordable home.
How CoLife works
The co-living process takes three steps. Renters first create a detailed profile of their personal preferences for the type of person they want to live with. They are then provided potential matches who have been pre-vetted and chosen by a CoLife expert. And after the completion of background and credit checks, renters can meet their potential hosts before they make their choice.
CoLife’s listings range from $500 to $1,200, which includes utilities. That provides a savings of up to nearly 70% on monthly rent. The company has about 20 to 40 homes listed in Charlotte since its recent expansion here. It expects to have about 1,000 by the end of the year.
Homeowners can also reap the benefits, earning extra income and building connections through a new living experience. Leasing terms start at 30 days.
The startup provides a $500,000 liability insurance plan for all renters and a $1 million liability policy and protection plan against property damages for homeowners. CoLife guarantees the rent to the homeowner, providing a housing attorney to handle anything that may go wrong, the company said.
CoLife aims to expand to 10 cities by the end of the year. The startup is also currently working to raise funding to support its mission.
"We want to help solve housing," Snook said. "And we feel that a lot of the world's biggest social problems — whether it's mental health, loneliness, housing or even issues of elder care — I think that they're really first and foremost issues of human trust and connection."
