How co-living conversions can help solve the housing shortage
The need for affordable housing is more dire than ever; AEC firms continue to scratch their heads to find a viable solution. Converting vacant office buildings to residential multifamily housing is one outlet that has been gaining traction since the Coronavirus pandemic.
Ongoing research from architecture firm Gensler and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) examines how alternative office-to-residential models may be the key to solving the housing shortage in the United States.
Gensler and Pew partnered together to develop a flexible co-living concept in various major metropolitan areas. Back in 2024, one proposal looked at the viability of Denver, Minneapolis, and Seattle buildings fo co-living conversion. But now, the two partners have dove even deeper into this research.
Co-Living Conversions from Office Buildings
In February 2025, Gensler and Pew released their prototypes for co-living housing in both Houston and Los Angeles. These cities, along with all the others, were chosen for a variety of reasons: high housing demand and median rent prices, significant homelessness, and/or high downtown office vacancies.
The partners came back with several takeaways from their Houston and LA research:
1. These co-living conversions are affordable.
Gensler estimates the rent in Los Angeles for a micro-apartment would be $1,000 per month, which is half the city’s median rent of $2,072. In Houston, they would cost $700 a month compared to the median rent of $1,297.
2. Micro-units can be built faster and cheaper.
Conversions cost less than building new units. In LA, micro-units would require about $120,000 in subsidies per unit instead of $380,000 for a typical studio.
"In each city we’ve studied, local governments could create far more housing with their subsidy dollars using this model than with conventional apartments," says Alex Horowitz, Project Director, Housing Policy Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts.
What distinguishes this model from other alternatives is its speed to market—just 12–18 months.
3. There is a market and a need for co-living conversions
According to Wes LeBlanc, Principal and Strategy Director, Gensler, only about 1–2% of total downtown workers live and work downtown (in both Houston and LA). This includes service and modest wage jobs, and the potential market size for this use case could be much larger than the conservative assumptions made for single-person, 30-50% AMI households, such as hospitals, universities, and more.
Hospitals, airlines, school systems, and other employers who have trouble attracting employees because housing costs are high near their jobs could help solve that problem by leasing a full floor of micro-apartments.
Gensler and Pew also found that anywhere from 38% to 58% of all renters in these cities are single-occupant households who could benefit financially from living in an affordable micro-unit as opposed to a market-rate studio.
"The fact that these rents are 'all in' monthly costs (including water, electrical, furnishing, security, cleaning, and no move-in cost) make the product particularly attractive as compared to other low cost and market-rate product(s)," says LeBlanc.
4. Offices prove to be an attractive starting point for conversions
The research found that construction costs were reduced by 25% to 35% compared to conventional office-to-residential conversions. This is due in part to the utilization of plumbing from kitchens and restrooms that already exist in office buildings, rather than adding new elements to each individual unit.
"The fact that about three times as many units per floor can be created with co-living also means the impacts on both downtown revitalization and the housing shortage are much bigger," says Horowitz.
5. Local regulatory barriers are a bottleneck
Regulations governing this product are different than those of traditional multifamily. In fact, many localities prevent this typology, according to LeBlanc. This is the biggest contraints with developing co-living models.
Overall, once regulatory complications are dealt with, flexible co-living conversions from office buildings may prove to be a viable solution to the affordable housing crisis.
"Policymakers can consider supporting the implementation of office-to-flexible co-living conversions due to the outsized impact that the concept has on housing production in an area of critical need," Gensler writes in their takeaway.
If this works, cities will be able to deliver affordable housing far more efficiently and cost-effectively, creating thousands of secure, modern downtown dwellings.
About the Author
Quinn Purcell
Quinn Purcell is the Managing Editor for Building Design+Construction. He is a graduate of Idaho State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, and an emphasis in Multiplatform Journalism. He specializes in video, photography, copywriting, feature writing, and graphic design.