In the heart of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a property management firm has opened a 19-bed co-living complex with rooms as small as 74 sq ft for rent. For almost $1,900 a month, it is touting “authentic Brooklyn energy” on a block “with real local charm”.
The firm, Cohabs, dubbed the site Crown 120. But for longtime residents, it was the Kingston Lounge, a storied jazz club and bar. Its transformation serves as a tangible reminder of cultural erasure and gentrification.
When Cohabs presented the project in May 2023, some locals expressed concern. “This history [of the lounge] is people, it’s not just buildings,” Sarah Lazur, a member of Brooklyn community board 8, said at a land use meeting.
Co-living housing is similar to a college dormitory, where residents share a communal kitchen, bathroom and living spaces.
While renters are drawn in by the promise of a built-in community, flexible leases and, in some cases, all-inclusive rent, some long-time dwellers of the neighborhoods they land in see fewer benefits. Co-living “is not something that is contributing to the longterm health and structure of the community”, added Lazur.
Crown 120 was eventually approved regardless. Its opening is one of many such sites across New York City, where co-living has been rapidly expanding as a housing alternative for gen Z and younger millennial renters. The encroachment of these developments into traditionally working-class neighborhoods like Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick has fueled anger among residents who fear displacement and loss.
“These houses are really designed to create connections for our members,” Elisa Richou, Cohabs’ US head of partnerships and brand growth, said. “New York City can be overwhelming, but beautiful and magical sometimes and we really just wanted to create a safe space.”
Within five years of Cohabs’ New York debut, they developed 23 houses, each fitted with luxury amenities like a gym and cinema room. Their members are mainly younger professionals in their 20s and typically from overseas, looking to start a new chapter of their lives.
Gabriela Caribe, 25, who works in international affairs, has been living in a Cohabs building for almost two years. Originally from Brazil, Caribe’s company assigned her to their New York office initially for a six-month stint, before she pushed for a longer contract.
“It feels like home to me,” she said. “I share my life, and I build my life here, with my housemates, and it’s the whole reason I stayed in New York for this long.”
Living at the site “really creates an instant community that you’re a part of”, said Caribe. “I had lived with one roommate before, but with co-living, it’s just much better. I will definitely continue to do this.”
It comes at a premium price tag. At Cohabs, some rooms can cost more than $2,400. Richou says they are not just selling housing, but experiences in “up-and-coming” neighborhoods.
Celestina León, Brooklyn community board 4’s district manager, sees things differently. These developments are “harbingers of gentrification and a loss of community”, she said.
“Being a transitional population, they’re not necessarily being set up to be a good neighbor,” said León. “They’re basically set up to have a Bushwick experience, and then go on their way. And it’s very insulting.”
Residents at Cohabs sites do not typically stick around for long. Its average members’ stay is 11 months, according to Richou.
Some of those who have lived in affected neighborhoods for years worry about the lasting impact of such brief stays. At the May 2023 land use meeting where Crown 120 was discussed, Lazur called co-living developments the “antithesis” of community and an “unofficial hotel for European tourists”.
Such fears aren’t unfounded, according to Kevin Dalton, a real estate agent at Compass, who explained that the conversion of single and two-family homes into units holding up to as many as 34 people can lead to a significantly higher rent roll – and increase rent in the area.
Crown Heights, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant “are becoming more and more desirable”, Dalton said. “They’re not as far along in the process of gentrification as Williamsburg, but you see the writing on the wall.”
Lisa Atkinson, a former member of Brooklyn community board 8, claimed at the land use meeting in May 2023 that residents were being priced out of the community. “They’re leaving because they cannot afford it because developers like your company [are] coming in,” she said.
Community board 8 declined to comment.
Daniel Clark, Cohabs’ US general manager, said the company engages with communities before opening developments, to ease concern about gentrification and displacement. The firm “tries to be responsible” by highlighting local businesses to their members, Clark said, as a way to invest back into the neighborhood.
But Caribe, the Cohabs tenant, thinks differently. Co-living houses “are a bit of isolated bubbles, in the middle of very historical communities”, she said. “Co-living spaces are expanding so fast that you’re losing a bit of the community’s heritage and roots of the neighborhood, especially since many members aren’t New Yorkers.”
But at the same time, she added, “you need to open space for young people to come in and start living in the city and what young people want is community and co-living”.
Despite New York’s net housing stock growing by 60,000 additional units in two years, it’s barely meeting demand, with nearly 275,000 new households. The city’s vacancy rate also dropped from 4.54% to 1.4%, the lowest recorded since 1968, according to Housing Preservation and Development.
The rapid rise of co-living has prompted calls for specific regulations to prevent mismanagement and tenant abuse. “It’s so pervasive, and there is so much money that there is a lot of potential for abuse, corruption,” Dalton said. “Regulation is something that does need to happen.”
