HOC: a new name for coliving in Antwerp that grew up

There hasn't always been a coliving community at HOC, in the beginning there was a building. A few rooms. A shared kitchen where people who had never met before ended up staying longer than they planned, talking about things they hadn't talked about with anyone else in the city yet.

That was the beginning. Not a concept, not a brand strategy; just the quiet observation that when you put the right people in the right kind of space, something happens that's hard to name but easy to feel.

Coliving in Antwerp was still a new idea then. The city had plenty of furnished rooms and short-term rentals, but very few places genuinely designed around the people inside them. The house on the corner of a lively Antwerp street wasn't trying to solve a housing crisis. It was trying to answer a simpler question: what if home felt like more than just an address?

HOC started as House of co, a name that made sense for a single coliving house. It doesn't quite hold anymore, and that's a good problem to have.

Over the years, one house became several. The community grew to more than a hundred residents. A sister brand launched. Work of Co, a coworking space for the same ambitious, mobile, internationally-minded people who were already living with us. Private homes entered the picture. The idea expanded in every direction, quietly and steadily, until the original name described only a fraction of what was actually happening.

A house is one thing. What HOC has become is something closer to what we wrote about in what we mean by community: a setting, a dial, a particular way of being around people that travels with you from building to building and city to city.

Opening of Dodoens, 2022

HOC isn't an acronym that was designed in a meeting room. It's the name that residents and the team were already using long before it became official. In the kitchen, in the WhatsApp groups, in passing conversation, nobody was saying the full name. They were saying HOC. The rebrand made the outside match the inside.

What stays the same is everything that matters. The same team. The same houses: The Old Brick on Oudesteenweg, DAMCO on Dambruggestraat, the Seef Yard complex of houses in the Seefhoek. The same all-inclusive approach: furnished rooms, utilities, Wi-Fi, weekly cleaning, and the kind of community that doesn't appear on any floor plan. The slogan "More Than Home" stays too, because it was always the truest thing we said about ourselves.

The name changed. The idea didn't.

Opening of Garden House, 2023

There's a line in the post that announced the rebrand, and it's worth reading slowly: "We started with a house. Then we built a community. Then a place to work. Then homes of your own."

Each of those steps was driven by the people already inside the buildings. Residents who wanted somewhere to focus during the day became the reason Work of Co exists. Residents who fell in love with Antwerp and decided to stay longer became the reason HOC started thinking about longer-term housing. The community didn't follow the brand. The brand followed the community.

That's what the rituals that hold it together look like from the inside. Not a product roadmap, but a slow accumulation of small, human decisions made by real people who chose to keep showing up.

Opening of Old Brick, 2025

If you're searching for coliving in Antwerp, everything you need to know about HOC is still exactly where it was. The rooms are the same. The process is the same. The minimum stay is three months, everything is included, and you can move in without a Belgian rental history or a local guarantor.

If anything has changed, it's that the offer is wider. DAMCO on Dambruggestraat opened in 2026 with 17 rooms in the vibrant 2060 district, a short walk from Antwerp Central Station. Life at Seef Yard continues in the Seefhoek, one of Antwerp's most characterful neighbourhoods, rough-edged and warm in equal measure. And Work of Co is there for the days when you want to work somewhere that isn't your kitchen.

Opening of Work of co, 2026

Names matter less than most branding conversations suggest. What matters is whether the thing the name points to is real.

At HOC, the thing is real. It's the person you didn't expect to meet, the conversation that started over nothing in the kitchen, the city that started to feel familiar faster than you thought it would. It's what that looks like in practice, on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, and on the nights when nobody planned to stay up late but everyone did.

If you're new to Antwerp and looking for somewhere that feels like more than a room, come find your people at HOC. And if you're ready to see what's available, you can browse and book a room at hocliving.eu.

We outgrew a name. We're not done growing.

Why did HOC change its name?

HOC grew well beyond its origins as a single coliving house in Antwerp. With multiple houses, a sister coworking brand in Work of Co, and a community spanning over 43 countries, the original name no longer reflected the full picture. HOC was also already what residents and the team were calling it every day, long before it became official.

Does the rebrand affect current residents?

Nothing changes for residents. The same team runs the same houses under the same all-inclusive model. The name on the door is different; everything behind it is the same.

Where are HOC's coliving houses in Antwerp?

HOC currently operates several coliving houses across Antwerp, including DAMCO on Dambruggestraat in the 2060 district, The Old Brick on Oudesteenweg, and Seef Yard in the Seefhoek neighbourhood. All are centrally located with easy access to public transport and Antwerp Central Station.

What is included in an HOC coliving room?

All HOC rooms are fully furnished and all-inclusive: fast Wi-Fi, utilities, weekly common-area cleaning, and access to shared spaces including kitchen, lounge, and depending on the house, a coworking space or outdoor patio. The minimum stay is three months, with no need for a local guarantor or Belgian rental history.

What is the difference between HOC and Work of Co?

HOC is the coliving brand, offering furnished rooms and community living across multiple Antwerp houses. Work of Co at workofco.eu is the sister coworking brand, built for the same internationally-minded professionals. The two are designed to work together, but each stands on its own.