Poster

PROTEST POSTER NEAR MY APARTMENT “NO CO-LIVING TENAMENTS”

I must admit that when I returned I had to check the spelling of tenements.

It is a pity that someone should go to the trouble of producing a poster and failing to have someone check the spelling. I read somewhere that if you use all capitals you are less likely to notice spelling errors but by the same token the reader may not notice either.

The area where I live is being swamped by new hotels, student accommodation complexes and more recently co-living developments.

Initially I was unaware what a co-living complex was and was horrified when I discovered what was involved. Co-living here in Dublin involves residents having their own room and bathroom but sharing kitchen and other communal facilities, some developments have indicated that as many as 20 rooms will share one kitchen.

I own an apartment in Dublin city centre and based on my experience at dealing with management companies, promised facilities that were never delivered, ongoing problems due to anti-social behaviour I am will to bet that co-living as proposed by developers in Ireland will be a nightmare for the residents.

According to the Taoiseach, speaking in the Dail, co-living had not taken off as originally feared. “There have been a lot of planning applications passed, but as a percentage of overall development, it is very low. “In my view, of course it has the potential to become glorified tenement living given the nature of some of the applications I have seen and what could transpire.” He described them as developments that include small en-suite bedroom alongside large communal spaces including kitchen facilities which residents share.

Ms McDonald reminded the Taoiseach one co-living application in the markets area near Capel Street was for a 14-storey, 506-bed complex.

Below is a description is a definition of co-living:

Co-living is a residential community living model that accommodates three or more biologically unrelated people. Generally co-living is a type of intentional community that provides shared housing for people with similar values or intentions. The co-living experience may simply include group discussions in common areas or weekly meals, although will oftentimes extend to shared workspace and collective endeavours such as living more sustainably. An increasing number of people across the world are turning to co-living in order to unlock the same benefits as other communal living models (such as communes or co-housing), including “comfort, affordability, and a greater sense of social belonging.”

Co-living as a modern concept traces its origins to shared living models of the 19th and 20th centuries such as tenements in the UK, boarding houses in the US, and chawls in western India, yet ancient forms of communal living such as the longhouse date back thousands of years. Its contemporary form has gained prominence in recent years due to a combination of factors including increased urbanisation rates, a lack of affordable housing options, and a growing interest in lifestyles not dependent upon long-term contracts.

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