The Rise of Co-living: What Gen Z Can Teach Us About the Future of Home

For decades, the idea of "home" followed a familiar script. You graduated, found a job, rented your first studio, bought your own apartment, and eventually settled down. Home was a destination — a permanent place where life unfolded.

Today, that story is very different.

Globalisation is to serve. Young professionals move between cities for work, students pursue international opportunities, and remote employees are no longer tied to a single location. Flexibility has become a defining feature of modern life. But while mobility has opened new opportunities, it has also introduced a challenge that is often overlooked: finding a sense of belonging.

Perhaps that's why the words co-housing and co-living are so often used interchangeably. However, dictionaries draw a subtle but telling distinction between these two terms:

• Co-living: "A modern form of communal living where residents have private, furnished bedrooms and share common areas like kitchens, lounges, and workspaces" (Collins); "the practice of living with other people" (Oxford).

• Co-housing: "A type of house with some shared facilities" (Collins); "a group of homes that include some shared facilities" (Oxford).

The difference? Co-living centres on people and the practice of living together. Cohousing centres on the house and shared facilities. One is a lifestyle; the other is a floor plan.

For years, shared housing was often viewed as a temporary compromise — something students did to reduce rent before moving into a place of their own. Today, that perception is shifting. It’s no longer entirely about price. It’s about the loneliness economy.

Increasingly, people are not simply looking for neighbours they politely greet in the hallway. They are looking for friendships, meaningful conversations, new networks, and shared experiences that make everyday life richer in emotions.

This shift extends far beyond housing.

Look around, and you'll notice how Gen Z is bringing community back in unexpected ways. The cultural shift towards simpler things and shared moments — where you can be your real self, not an Instagram concept — has inspired growing appreciation for slower, more meaningful, nostalgic experiences that foster communities: running clubs, yoga&pilates retreats, conversation pits inspired by the retro interiors of the ‘70s - ‘80s, listening bars with vinyl, dim lighting, and low-voice conversations that create a sense of intimacy. It all gives off a homey lounge vibe — a place you come to for a chill. And this is exactly where Sofia Coppola-esque conversations start.

The same cultural shift is changing the way we think about home.

People often assume that co-living is primarily about affordability. While convenience certainly plays a role, that's rarely the whole story. Flexible contracts, furnished rooms, and shared amenities make moving easier, but what keeps people staying is something much harder to quantify.

Connection.

Some of the most meaningful conversations don't happen at networking events or business conferences. They happen while waiting for the kettle to boil after work or unexpectedly meeting someone during overlapping laundry hours.

And you don't even need to skip your evening ritual — the hot shower, the cooling patches, the podcast before bed — for a night out. Community rarely begins with grand events. More often, it grows through ordinary moments that slowly become part of your routine.

In many ways, those everyday interactions have become a luxury.

The founder of HOC, Pim Smet, humbly says that there was no big, ahead-of-its-time idea — it's mostly how things happened naturally. With many other cohousing projects that already existed, he mentions that community was something conceptually often overlooked. When people just share facilities without any out-of-routine activities together, this creates fertile ground for tension between them. One insight he shares is that the solution to this tension is for the company to provide all amenities and facilities so that people are able to use them equally and to the extent that each person needs. The other insightful idea is to get them connected by knowing each other outside the house — through shared activities and events.

We live in a post-pandemic world where remote work, artificial intelligence, and digital communication are transforming the way we work and interact. The more our lives move online, the more we seem to appreciate opportunities to connect offline.

That became especially clear when I spoke with members of the HOC community.

I expected many residents to tell me they had chosen co-living because they had recently moved to Antwerp from abroad. And while many had, I was genuinely surprised by how many had lived in Antwerp their entire lives.

They weren't simply looking for accommodation.

They were searching for a different way to live.

Some wanted a fresh start after a major life change. Others were looking to expand their social circle beyond work or university. Many simply wanted to come home to a place where people knew more each other's names.

That insight reinforced something we often overlook: the desire for community isn't limited to international newcomers. Sometimes, you can spend your entire life in the same city and still be searching for a place where you truly belong.

This is exactly where co-living differs from traditional shared housing.

It isn't simply about sharing a roof.

At HOC, we see that every day. While we offer a range of living options—from vibrant co-living homes to quieter cohousing spaces and private studios—the idea remains the same: creating places where people don't just live side by side but have the opportunity to build genuine connections.

If you're curious about what that feels like, perhaps the best introduction isn't a brochure or a floor plan.

Come to one of our community events.

You might arrive as a visitor.

You may leave already knowing a few neighbours.

Tatiana Tsapenko | July 2026