Co-living apartments about to open amid housing crunch
A developer is running an experiment on whether "co-living" will prove a hit in Ottawa and a new apartment tower on an Ottawa River island is the laboratory.
Common at Zibi will offer 48 shared apartments, totalling 175 bedrooms, along with shared kitchens and living rooms.
The apartments were originally supposed to be ready in 2022, but are now expected to welcome the first tenants next month.
The project is a partnership between developer Dream Unlimited and Common Living. The latter manages 6,000 similar units across the United States.
The 25-storey tower on Chaudière Island is Common Living's first foray into Canada.
Common's vice president of real estate Matthew Micksin called it an "optimized version" of living with roommates that provides downtown units at a lower price point. A room with a shared bathroom runs about $1,280.
As of October 2022, the most recent snapshot available, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation put the average rent for a bachelor apartment in Ottawa at $1,121 — a 27 per cent or $240 increase in four years. The average one-bedroom was $1,347.
Help for housing crunch
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and several city councillors toured the building Monday. Sutcliffe said he sees the building's model as a partial solution to Ottawa's housing crunch.
"I think the potential for [this model] is huge," he said. "We know that people are sharing accommodation in many different ways and many different places, but this organizes it so effectively in a way that can work."
Even four-and-a-half years ago, the tower's announcement mentioned "addressing the increasing demand that has been driving up rents."
Micksin, meanwhile, said the goal is to take the "friction" out of living with roommates.
He said tenants apply for rooms individually and Common offers furnishings and cleaning services.
The project is the first high-rise tower on the Ontario side of the expansive Zibi project, which will eventually offer about 2,200 units straddling Ottawa and Gatineau.
A model shared living space in one of the apartments at Common at Zibi. (Arthur White-Crummey)
The tower will be a test case for whether the co-living model could work elsewhere at Zibi and beyond, said Dream Unlimited president Michael Cooper.
He said the demographics in Ottawa look good, with a mobile population of students along with retirees who might spend much of the year at a cottage but still want a pad in the city.
He called it a "novel concept," but wants to wait for the results before putting any more money into the idea.
"There's a bit of a commitment, because we're building four-or-five-bedroom units and that's different than what we would do normally," Cooper said, adding "If it doesn't work you've got to switch them back."
Non-shared, affordable housing also part of tower
Common at Zibi also includes 140 traditional, non-shared rental units and 19 Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) units.
Those units will be priced at about 40 per cent below true market rent starting at about $1,300 per month, according to Cliff Youdale, OCH's chief development officer.
The OCH units aren't part of the co-living experiment, but Youdale said he will be keeping an eye on the results.
"I think any affordable solution has got to be on the table as we look to try to crack the nut on this whole affordable housing issue — any tools that might be available," he said.
"We're very curious and we'll be watching pretty closely on how they do."
