
Live in an adult dorm? Starcity thinks you would, for the right price [video] - harambae
http://www.pressheretv.com/would-you-live-in-an-adult-dorm/
======
Merrill
I thought that lots of senior housing establishments offer what is essentially
dorm living as an option in between independent apartment living and full
nursing care?

In college, Mrs B's rooming house was about the best accommodations I had. She
had 5 single rooms and 2 double rooms IIRC. It was $9/week for a single circa
'65\. Another $11/week for 20 meals at the eating club, and I only got food
poisoning once.

~~~
saghm
> I thought that lots of senior housing establishments offer what is
> essentially dorm living as an option in between independent apartment living
> and full nursing care?

My grandmother moved into one of those a few years ago, after one of her
friends moved in and loved it. She's still pretty independent, making her own
food sometimes instead of eating in the cafeteria, still driving (although
she's mentioned that she's thinking of selling her car and voluntarily giving
up her license, but seems to really enjoy living around so many people her own
age and being able to attend the social events they hold. Although she hasn't
had any health problems (89 years and still going strong!), it's comforting to
us to know that if some sort of emergency did happen, there are plenty of
people around whose jobs are to help out.

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echelon
If there was a network of such living accommodations you could stay at all
around the world with the flexibility to book at a moment's notice, that might
be compelling.

I would pay $1-2k/mo to have the ability to stay in any major city in the
world. I wouldn't even sell my condo. This would be an extra luxury.

~~~
wyxuan
Airbnb and hotels? No?

~~~
echelon
I think that'd be much more expensive than an adult dorm for long-term travel.

I'm imagining a scenario where I work remotely and visit different cities
every month between returning home. Sort of as work tourism. Get to spend lots
of time visiting other cities for largely just the cost of airfare, and still
have enough budget to support your existing rent/mortgage back home.

I'm thinking you'd want something closer to cheap capsule hotel rates. It
gives you the flexibility of not being tied down, but at the same time lets
you maintain your life back home for when you want to return to it (since it's
affordable). There's no hassle of searching for hotels that satisfy
{safe,clean,cheap,accessible} criteria since you're in a network.

Imagine having these available internationally as a part of your subscription
service.

I'd love to have something like this.

(Edit: whoops, I just double posted instead of editing. Deleted the duplicate
message.)

~~~
wyxuan
Hostels seem to fit the bill: cheap, worldwide, and willing to accept you for
long-term travel

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werber
I stopped at 2000 dollars a month, this seems insane? I’d love the concept for
like maybe 5 or 600 a month

~~~
cryptozeus
Well that was his second line. They are working on a project to get the rent
down to $800. Only if you would not have stopped:)

~~~
werber
Thank you! That doesn’t seem as insane

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lumost
Looking at their options it looks like they are simplifying room mate finding.
It's a nice value add to be able to work with a steady landlord while only
renting a bedroom, it helps shield residents from the cost burden when a room
mate moves out and makes it simpler to move into a larger house with more
rooms ( and potentially better location ).

In Boston there's a scarcity of 1-bedroom units relative to 3+ bedroom units -
it's common for folks to live with a few roommates as the typical cost is ~1/2
of the 1-bedroom equivalent and generally easier to find.

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anon9001
Serious question: how does a guy like this _actually_ get into a business like
this? If I walked into YC suggesting to build dorms, I'm sure I'd be laughed
out. What's the differentiator for Jon? The only distinction I can see is that
he grew up in a commune.

I do see the potential of the idea. The next obvious step is to bundle it with
office space. You could give a discount for every employee you move into the
dorm below the office. It's easy to imagine a building with shops on the first
floor, dorms in the middle, and offices at the top. You could live on a
budget, never have to leave the building for work or food, have 0 commute, and
some sense of community.

I think there's going to be a rising demographic of people that don't want to
work and are willing to sacrifice having kids for an early retirement. This
would be an excellent choice. I could have graduated college, put in a decade
in a dorm above a software factory, have minimal expenses, and retire by
30-something.

~~~
cryptozeus
Did you actually listen to the whole interview? They have market fit and
thousands of applications for their product. What are you basing your opinion
on ?

~~~
anon9001
I did. If you list a room for rent in SF that looks nice and is competitively
priced, you'll also have thousands of applications.

What do you think is the innovation here? He's offering housing in a market
with no housing supply. Of course he has market fit.

It seems the steps here were: Be born in commune. Notice SF has a housing
problem. Suggest building a commune in LA and SF. Get funded by YC.

Maybe it's like asking for a date with a very attractive person, where
everyone thinks they can't possibly get the date, so nobody ever asks?

~~~
cryptozeus
Yeh its always obvious in hindsight. They are designing it for current time.
i.e. they have common kitchen so if there is a problem of dirty dishes then
they will have someone cleaning up the place daily or weekly. No question of
who pays the utility bill because its included. This is very different from
just renting out room. They may also have someone loosely policing the place
in case there are issues in common living area or someone is not behaving
properly.

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all_blue_chucks
I believe the preferred nomenclature is "flop house."

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rb808
I spent half my 20s in dorms and big houses with roommates. Awesome time, met
a lot of cool people that remain friends to this day. I don't know why people
aspire to get their own house/apartment, its really boring.

~~~
BubRoss
Women

~~~
RhysU
It scaled so brilliantly when we could simply evolve plumage.

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cvhashim
Really cool idea. Cohabitation and community development. Although I'm worried
what would happen if Starcity never reaches profitability and starts going
back on everything they've set out to do.

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0xDEEPFAC
Looks like boarding houses are back....

~~~
safog
We-work'd boarding house.

~~~
incompatible
That sounds like the Worry Free work houses in the movie "Sorry to Bother
You".

------
jondishotsky
Greetings HN, Jon Dishotsky, CEO and cofounder of Starcity here. Thanks for
all your feedback. A few notes that I thought I would share with you all.

Starcity's mission is to make great cities accessible to everyone. We're only
a little over 3 years old but have made a lot of progress. Let me set the
stage a little bit.

There is a sinister problem permeating great cities in the world —
increasingly expensive housing costs, and it begins and ends with a lack of
will. Politicians, developers, and banks are content with the status quo where
economic growth and quality of life are bled out of residents by ever-
increasing rents.

But it’s renters that suffer the most from this lack of will, and they’re
being pushed further and further away from urban centers — away from culture,
job opportunities, and easy access to amenities.

First, a few key facts to keep in mind:

\- 7 million new renters enter the market to find housing every decade in the
United States and spend $1.1T annually on apartment housing \- Apartment
living was the fastest-growing segment of the housing market over the last
decade \- 43% of apartment dwellers live in multi-family developments in urban
settings, which translates to 35 million urban renters

Why are these facts important? Because, unfortunately for renters, inflation-
adjusted rents have increased by 64% since 1960, while real incomes have not
kept pace.

This pushes renters into stressful situations such as: 1\. Commuting longer
distances to areas where housing supply is less expensive 2\. Moving into
buildings that aim to fit more residents into the existing housing supply at a
higher density and lower comfort 3\. Apply to a lottery system for subsidized
housing where the chances of getting affordable housing is similar to winning
the lottery 4\. Paying 50-60% of their income toward housing costs in an
expensive modern high-rise 5\. Playing craigslist sublease roulette where they
don’t know what kinds of roommates they’ll get

Consumers want modern, on-demand, community-oriented housing products in urban
settings, but housing supply isn’t able to keep up with demand, and hotels
aren’t a viable long-term option.

Developers point to the inflexibility of banks and extensive regulation as
reasons why 99% of new developments have the same format and little in the way
of community. Regions like the San Francisco Bay Area and the boroughs of New
York City would have to build supply at peak capacity for 50 years to create a
meaningful reduction in costs for renters.

But, because of the lack of innovation by housing developers, there are only
two methods of creating affordable housing:

A. Build expensive housing supply that becomes inexpensive over a significant
time B. Subsidize expensive housing supply

This is where Starcity comes in. We’re building a new category of real estate
called coliving. In fact, this built form has not been created before, so much
so that we worked with San Jose to create a new coliving designation that's
separate from hotel, dormitories, and housing
([https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/multifamily/why-san-
jos...](https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/multifamily/why-san-jose-could-
catch-new-york-city-in-co-living-development-100101)).

Designed to make great cities accessible to anyone, Starcity offers its
residents a comfortable living experience with a private, fully furnished
bedroom, and private or shared bath, complemented by warm, inviting shared
kitchens and living spaces. Our priority is to make it so that our residents
feel like they’re part of a greater community from day one, while always
feeling at home. We also don't waste space building hundreds of kitchens and
living rooms that go virtually unused throughout a given week. The past
methodologies are not sustainable and waste a tone of space.

We find underutilized multi-family, hotel, and commercial spaces or build
ground-up developments to create coliving communities, adding to the city's
housing stock without displacing a community’s longtime residents.

With community-building at its core, Starcity works with local community
stakeholders, government agencies, and nonprofits to understand the
communities we enter, offer volunteer and engagement opportunities to our
residents, and attempt to become a source of energy and opportunity for the
neighborhoods in which we offer housing.

The real estate industry and developers are focused on developing projects
that create the highest return for investors, creating luxury units catering
to high-income populations, which aren’t accessible to the average person
looking to live or start their life in a city. Governments, on the other hand,
are focused on supporting the lowest income individuals via subsidized
housing. The result is that middle-income earners are the first to be squeezed
out of cities.

And yet, so much research indicates that just being close to opportunity
increases the likelihood of increasing your upward mobility
([http://www.rajchetty.com/papers-
categorized/#papers_opportun...](http://www.rajchetty.com/papers-
categorized/#papers_opportunity)).

We are just getting started, and hope that you bear with us as we get to our
fully realized vision. Developments like 457 Minna
([https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Co-living-
tower-...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Co-living-tower-in-
SoMa-could-usher-in-wave-of-14074532.php)) which breaks ground next year in
San Francisco will allow someone on minimum wage to afford to live in a Class
A property in the heart of the city.

Please feel free to AMA or reach out to me directly if you'd like to hear more
about what we're working on.

------
xwdv
Dorms are only appealing when they are filled with young attractive peers, not
washed up aging adults whose ambitions and dreams have been crushed by the
reality of the real world.

~~~
shortandsweet
That statement reflects your own feelings not the state of society or anyone
else.

~~~
CapricornNoble
Can't that be said about every post on HN?

Globally, you certainly don't see many uber-wealthy people over 30 yearning
for shared living accommodations. Nor have I ever met anyone who said "I wish
I had a neckbeard gamer who doesn't shower and a 39yo crazy cat lady on Xanax
as my roommates."

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jtlisi
So basically the 21st century equivalent of a boarding house:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_house](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_house)

~~~
SN76477
Growing up I remember my dad living in boarding houses.

I like the idea, I feel that communal living will be the future. We are tired
of being lonely in our 4 bedroom homes.

~~~
zdragnar
Been there, done that, never going back to communal living again. I don't have
a 4 bedroom house either, but I do have my own house that is the right size
for me.

