Sharing a living space with friends or family is a good way to cut back on expenses and save money.
All around the United States, housing, buying and renting costs have been on the rise. According to the United States Department of the Treasury’s website, the two past decades in particular have shown a tremendous boom in housing costs, significantly outpacing incomes in most U.S. regions. This is especially a problem for those just entering the housing market between 18 and 27.
While the average rent in Charlotte has gone down by 1.5 percent, as reported by Apartments.com, that average is still high. Studio apartments tend to go for around $1,398 a month, while one bedrooms go for $1,454, two bedrooms for $1,757, and three bedrooms or more tend to go for a minimum of $2,160. Houses with two bedrooms and up start at an average of $1,750, and townhomes with one bedroom and up for $1,830. If a person is living on an annual income of $20,000 and below, the month’s wages could be practically cleared out by the rental payment alone.
According to a report conducted by Bankrate.com released this past August, more than one in three adults are living paycheck-to-paycheck, including 28 percent of Gen Z, 34 percent of Millennials, 40 percent of Gen X and 28 percent of the Boomer generation. When most of the paycheck goes towards mortgage or rent costs, it can feel impossible to have money for food, traveling outside of work, medical visits and any other unexpected expenses.
In addition to the generational groups listed, the impact affects a larger percentage of the LGBTQ+ community, as opposed to their straight counterparts. According to a 2020 study focused on LGBT People and Housing Affordability, Discrimination, and Homelessness conducted by the UCLA Williams Institute School of Law, LGBTQ+ adults as a whole have 15 percent or more odds of being poorer than their cisgender straight counterparts. Especially when considering age, race, urban living, employment status, language, education, disability and other factors that affect risk of poverty.
So, the question is, especially with LGBTQ+ individuals, what can one do to offset the costs of living in order to get ahead of the curve while still managing all of life’s necessities? One such answer is shared housing, in which multiple friends, family members or acquaintances can get together to divide up the costs of rent or a mortgage.
Sharing living space with family members while paying rent could be a solution. Four years removed from the prime year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a housing data chart by EyeOnHousing.org, 12 to 16 percent of young adults in ages ranging from 25 to 34 are living with family members in North Carolina.
As a concept, multi-generational housing isn’t as new a thing as independent living is, according to a Vox report released on April 1. Culturally, around the world, this type of arrangement is a norm, only to grow in popularity and then become normalized after World War II, a fact presented in Vox’s April article by Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, a nonprofit that researches and advocates for multi-generational households. There are multiple benefits for all parties involved. Not only would every member of the family gain from the joined incomes, but having access to care giving, whether for an elder in their later years or a younger family member recovering from illness and out of work, sharing living space can be a major plus.
But living in a family home or with relatives may not be an option for many, especially for the LGBTQ+ community. According to statistics gathered by Promising Futures, an organization that partners with communities to improve responses to family violence, one in three lesbian-identifying women experience domestic violence in their households during their lifetimes, possibly occurring in a family home or with a romantic partner. Additionally, one in four gay men will experience domestic violence at some point, as will transgender individuals, usually because of their gender identity or non-conformity.
If living with immediate family or at home isn’t an option, and it’s too costly to find housing that can be supported on one income, what else is there? Answer: It’s time to see what the likelihood is of a room being open for rent in a multi-room dwelling, whether scouting for it on craigslist, social media that also posts listings, or inquiring with a group of friends looking to split the difference on rent or mortgage costs.
In Charlotte’s LGBTQ+ community, Keilen McNeill has found a solution by renting a space with others. He’s not the only one. Another Queen City local we’ll get to in just a moment has also found success with a similar arrangement. McNeill, 25, has been renting in apartment spaces on and off for the past two years. Starting in April 2024, he signed a new lease at the invitation of a close friend, along with two others that needed a place to call home. Together, the group found an apartment in the University area for $2,200 a month.
Being able to find stability, especially with the increasing prices in Charlotte’s newer complexes, has helped McNeill manage life a bit better for a couple of reasons. “Other than just being able to make sure my bills are paid on time,” McNeill said, “there’s a good bit of emotional support as well, even with the others I’ve gotten to know over time.”
Noel Mills, also aged 25, was able to scout out a house in the outskirts of Charlotte near Mount Holly, managing a rental payment of $2,500 a month between himself and two friends. While the expense side of the arrangement is made easier with each household member on the lease, the compromise is the longer distance between each tenant’s workplace, adding to costs otherwise cut by finding a residence where the prices haven’t soared in the past few years.
A closer inspection of Mills and his roommates reveals the ability to occasionally work at home and, given where he resides near I-85, the length of time spent in traffic to and from his workplace greatly varies – a plus and a minus. “It’s about a 25 minute drive without traffic,” recalls Mills,”but, with traffic and the closer it gets to rush hour, the drive goes from 40 minutes to an hour.”
McNeill’s commute is similar, requiring a drive from the University area to where he clocks into work in South Charlotte, which he says is an estimated 35 minutes either way.
This is something that can be an issue, depending on the commute and status of the vehicle. However, with the splitting of housing costs in both cases, more finances are available to deal with the long daily drives, somewhat offsetting expenditures.
While saving on costs is an immediate benefit, compatibility and common interests, combined with the ability to socialize daily with the household with family, friends or roommates, contributes to being able to dodge loneliness, an aspect mentioned by McNeill that gives his shared living space another major plus.
As of May 2023, loneliness was declared a public health epidemic by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D., M.B.A. A study conducted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) found that, in 2024, 30 percent of adults say they have experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week over the past year, while 10 percent say they are lonely every day. In another poll conducted by the APA, as to where Americans ranked the greatest areas where they felt the highest sense of community and belonging, 65 percent listed their families while 53 percent listed being among their friends, and lastly, 20 percent pointed to their neighborhoods, whether apartment or house based, to be a favorite place to socialize.
Although Charlotte’s boom in residential construction all over the city should help with the shortage of housing, dealing with the rising cost required to find a place of your own through shared living spaces is a solution to the problem, even if temporary. By cutting back costs for each tenant involved as well as sharing multiple aspects of daily living, many challenges are solved through a few compromises.