Your Creative NYC Living Arrangements

**Kusha Navadar** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show, I'm Kusha Navadar filling in for Brian today here on WNYC. Now we'll end today's show with your calls on unconventional living arrangements in New York City and a guest who's been reporting on them. It's no secret that rent prices are exorbitant nowadays, but did you know they were this high? According to data from StreetEasy in July, the median asking rent in New York City reached $4,200, up 30% from July 2019
And since landlords typically require that your annual salary is 40 times the monthly rent, you'd have to make $168,000 a year just to qualify for that median apartment. That's a lot of money and that's left a lot of folks in a tough spot, especially the generation that's just entering the workforce. So listeners, how are you making it work? Are you living in an unconventional arrangement to make this city affordable? We're not talking about having a roommate or two. That's just life here. We mean the creative stuff. An unlikely housemate, a building with unusual rules, a space that was never meant to be an apartment. Give us a call. We're at 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
You can text us as well at that number. This call-in is inspired by a new piece from CNN Business reporter Samantha Delouya, titled From Living with Nuns to Sharing with Seniors, Here are the Unconventional Ways People Are Affording New York City. And she joins us now. Hi, Samantha.

**Samantha Delouya** (1:41)
Hi there.

**Kusha Navadar** (1:42)
So how did you first catch on to these living situations? Was it something you noticed going viral or did you go looking for it?

**Samantha Delouya** (1:48)
Yeah. So it actually was something I noticed going viral. I guess my algorithm is kind of geared towards affordable ways to make it work in New York City for people in their 20s. And I was getting served content on Instagram and TikTok of people in their 20s kind of sharing tips about how to get rent stabilized apartments. And then also some people who had these unconventional living situations, including living with an elderly roommate who owns their place, but is renting out their spare room for a lower than market rent or the one person I spoke to who lived in two different convents when she first moved to New York City. And these things attract a lot of attention because New York City has always been an expensive place to live, but it's particularly difficult right now for young people with wage growth that hasn't kept pace with inflation. And it's the tightest housing market actually in New York City in over 50 years according to a 2024 report.
So young people are curious about how to make ends meet in New York. And so these kinds of content are going viral. And so I spoke to some of these people.

**Kusha Navadar** (2:57)
Well, let's start with Charles Jones, a 25-year-old who's living with a senior in Jamaica, Queens. How did that come together?

**Samantha Delouya** (3:04)
Yeah. So Charles Jones, I was actually connected to him through the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens. This foundation actually has a program where they match an elderly roommate with another housemate. So it used to be that both people had to be 60 plus, but I spoke to the CEO of the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens and they said, they lowered the age requirement for one of the roommates to be 18 plus because young people need a place to live. So Jones applied through this non-profit, and he was matched with a woman in her late 70s.
He now has moved in with her starting in early August in Jamaica, Queens, and his monthly expenses are $800 a month, which is obviously significantly lower than that, you know, almost $5,000 median rent in New York City. And so, you know, he said he's hoping this is going to be a long term arrangement for him. It will help him pay off his student loans, maybe find a place of his own that he can afford after a few years of kind of saving up and living with this elderly woman and her family in Queens.

**Kusha Navadar** (4:13)
That's very interesting. Let's go to David in Park Slope. Hi, David, welcome to the show.

**David** (4:20)
Hi, I have great news.
We just are leaving Park Slope and our rent is about to go down by two thirds, our monthly cost by two thirds, because we got a Mitchell Llama on the Upper West Side. And we were only on the list for 22 years.

**Kusha Navadar** (4:37)
Twenty two years. Wow, that is a long time. Thank you so much for sharing that, David. Mitchell Llama from It Provides Affordable Rental and Cooperative Housing to Moderate and Middle Income Families.