Powell River Educational Services Society (PRESS) launched our NEST Co-living Project, Powell River’s first ever co-living housing, an urban affordable housing model which offers multiple benefits to tenants. Reaching Home funding provided through PGNAETA for NEST Co-living has ensured that we can provide high-quality housing at an affordable price by ensuring the renovation, furnishing, equipping and management of the home is to the highest standard – helping us to prove that Co-Living offers a viable model for further affordable housing development locally, regionally, and nationwide.

Remarkably, the total turnaround time from receipt of funding to the creation of 4 housing spaces is less than 5 months, with total start up investment from all sources equaling just $87,500 per each new housing space provided.  In Co-living houses residents typically rent their bedrooms and share common areas such as kitchens, living rooms, laundry facilities and outdoor spaces.  All tenants at the NEST Co-living house, who have been carefully matched for values and interests, report multiple benefits of their co-living experience, including: affordable and attractive housing in excellent condition, supportive sense of community within the house, shared responsibility for housework and chores, improved connections to the local area, sense of belonging, and the ease or simplicity of payment.

We actively partner with local and provincial government agencies to further implement NEST Co-living and received funding from both the qathet Regional District’s Online Accommodation Platforms (OAP) tax revenues and Reaching Home to create a second co-living house.  Despite the ongoing challenges of rising real estate prices and a highly competitive market, we managed to find, purchase, renovate, furnish, and equip a second NEST Worker Co-Living House.  This 3-bedroom property is centrally located and exceptionally well laid out for co-living.  

The purchase and development of a second Co-living House allows us to continue developing and expanding this affordable, urban model of co-living housing in a small and remote community; to create 3 new affordable and attractive housing units in our community for less than $54,000/unit upfront investment, to re-interpret existing housing stock to create rental spaces, thereby helping to diminish environmental impacts of new builds and tear-downs, and to decrease impacts of isolation and loneliness for single renters by fostering a sense of community and connection among residents.