Thomas Tang

Opinion | Co-living can relieve Hong Kong’s housing crisis and help rebuild community spirit

Shared housing could be a solution for young professionals, the elderly and low-income families with no choice but to share often squalid, unsafe facilities

Any potential solutions should provide versatile living areas, green spaces to allow for stress relief and, above all, affordability to offset sky-high rents

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An aerial view of Sham Shui Po, one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Hong Kong. With cramped conditions, could co-living work here? Photo: Martin Chan

Thomas Tang

Published: 5:45am, 5 Nov 2020Updated: 4:21pm, 6 Nov 2020

By 2030, the United Nations predicts that almost 70 per cent of the world will live in cities. City populations are swelling through natural growth but also by new migrants coming to live in cities. With the impending growth in urban populations, how will provision of housing cope with the expanding numbers?

Could co-living be an option? With pressures on space and shifts in lifestyle among those under 40 years old, co-living or shared housing that combines private space with communal facilities is becoming increasingly attractive. To deal with a shortage of inner-city dwellings in the 1960s, Copenhagen authorities introduced this method using social housing blocks dedicated to young families.

The success of this experiment led to an established culture of shared homes in that city that prevails today. Another aspect of modern living is that many young people choose to remain single but, despite the rise of social media, encounter record levels of loneliness while experiencing difficulty forming real-life relationships.

Unsurprisingly, some are interested in the co-living model as it creates new ways of socialising. Research by the Royal Institute of British Architects backs up this point, suggesting that the introduction of a wide range of co-living models could not only help people cope with rising levels of loneliness but also the increasing need for assisted living in ageing populations.

04:11

Tiny 290sq ft temporary housing a welcome upgrade for some low-income Hong Kong families

An award-winning project in Alicante, Spain, made this a reality. It set up more than 240 affordable, intergenerational housing units in the city’s central urban areas for low-income individuals older than 65 and younger than 35.