Bloomington eyes modern rooming houses for budget-conscious renters

A young woman moves to the city to pursue a career. She rents a room with a shared living space to come home to after work.

It’s not just a storyline from “Little Women.” Until they fell out of favor, boarding and rooming houses were a common thread in people’s lives, offering a low-cost way to live independently.

Now, Bloomington is considering bringing back something like them as it seeks to build deeply affordable housing that could serve low-income residents as well as seniors, students and mobile professionals, like flight attendants who travel from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

“We think co-living could help meet that need,” Emily Hestbech, a Bloomington city planner, told the planning commission.

The modern take on the rooming house has grown more popular, particularly in more expensive coastal markets or places like Chicago and Denver, because it’s cheaper for both developers and renters. The buildings often feature individually leased bedrooms with shared common space, such as living rooms or kitchens.

It’s still relatively unusual in the Twin Cities area, but not unheard of.

Some student housing near the University of Minnesota campus functions on a similar, rent-by-bed model. Hennepin County has financed independent living single-room occupancy housing in Minneapolis and Robbinsdale for renters who were previously homeless. Designed to be affordable without assistance, they run between $450 and $750 per month, county spokesperson Sarah McKenzie wrote in an email.

Bloomington’s draft ordinance would establish “co-living” in city code, making it easier to construct housing with individual room leases and shared kitchen, living and sometimes bathroom space.

If the City Council gives its approval after a public hearing April 28, Planning Manager Nick Johnson said he believes it would be the first Twin Cities suburb to take these steps toward facilitating co-living.

Bloomington began studying co-living after a Hennepin County task force identified “single-room occupancies,” another term for a building with rented single bedrooms and shared living spaces, as a way to independently house people who had been homeless.

This type of housing was once a fixture in cities, including Minneapolis. Disinvestment in urban cores, “urban renewal” and a negative perception of single people living together all contributed to their decline.

Now, as cities deal with a rise in homelessness and a shortage of affordable housing, some are looking at rooming houses as a potential missing piece of the housing puzzle.

“We’re having trouble making progress on the development of deeply affordable units in Bloomington,” Johnson said.

Data shows the city is on track to build less than 10% of the housing it wants to by 2030 that would be considered affordable to someone making 30% of the area median income.

Cities are learning that creating housing that affordable requires significant public subsidy in order to entice developers, Johnson said.

Compared to traditional apartments, single-room occupancy housing can be cheaper to build, because there are fewer design constraints and plumbing and mechanical isn’t needed in as much of the building. It’s potentially an easier way to convert empty office buildings into housing, too, Johnson said.

The proposed ordinance would define co-living specifically in city code, making it easier to approve such projects.

Under current city code, co-living would be considered congregate living, which is now typically used for buildings where residents need services. The new co-living definition would be better suited to people living together independently, Johnson said.

As part of the ordinance changes, Bloomington would increase the allowable number of non-related people living together from four to six.

While Bloomington doesn’t have any current proposals for co-living developments, city officials are looking at one example in Columbia Heights.

Ratio Apartments, a complex above Columbia Heights City Hall off Central Avenue, includes 10 co-living units in a building financed in part with city tax subsidies. Each unit has four individually leased bedrooms around shared living space, said Barrett Corwin, Alatus’ development director.

In planning phases, Alatus identified an exploding market for studio apartments.

“We just saw a massive influx of younger individuals moving — transplant residents — to Minnesota, and the Twin Cities in particular,” Corwin said.

By offering secure private rooms with bathrooms, shared kitchens and furnished living spaces, Alatus could also offer renters access to a hot tub, fitness center and other amenities for about $870 per month.

About 30% of co-living renters hold housing-assistance vouchers, Corwin said. The units only allow one adult, but a young child can live with the adult.

“You are combining affordable housing with market rate, just kind of organically,” Corwin said.

There have been minimal troubles with sharing spaces, Corwin added. If someone has a problem, they can move to a different unit for free. Generally, resident feedback has been positive.

“When you’re talking about $800, $900 per month, that gets you nothing in the rental market. And instead, we were able to create these units,” Corwin said.