I’m already doing this with a set of friends in a big city with decent public transportation (relative to the world).

We all share a two story two flat. It’s quite fun, and my mental health is great. The big “but” is that it’s unlikely to last because people value different things. Most of us are doing this arrangement because it’s ridiculously inexpensive compared to other forms of housing. One has already moved out to live with his girlfriend, and another is probably going to move to another city.

This is of course ignoring the other very real problems: job prospects for industries are not uniform across cities (you may have friends in another industry that is in decline for your local)… etc.

I wouldn’t mind a return to communal apartments, with a dining hall, and a lounge away from the property manager and the entrance. But it’s doubtful very many people will ever use those facilities (when you have more interesting stuff to do outside the complex, or inside your own room, why settle for the third place?). The culture of friendship is also lacking in my current country (U.S.), and communal values are nonexistent.

I don’t think remote work is the bottleneck to people living like this. It’s fun when you’re young but most people outgrow the situation relatively quickly as they age (barring budget-driven forced decisions).

I also see a growing detachment from reality in some of the remote work maximalists who forget that not everyone has a job sitting at a computer all day. A significant number of younger people have jobs involved in-person work where remote isn’t even possible. This seems to be forgotten about in some of the writings about how remote work might change society, especially on HN where many commenters have only known jobs sitting in isolation at a computer.

>It’s fun when you’re young but most people outgrow the situation relatively quickly as they age

It might be fun if you get the right group of friends together. Until one of them has to leave and now everyone has to pay more rent, or a new roommate moves in and everyone hates him.

I got tired of the roommate thing in college very quickly after having a roommate with terrible hygiene who refused to clean and ate my food. It's better for people to have small, private apartments so they don't have to deal with all the stresses and annoyances of living with someone, without any of the benefits a romantic relationship provides.

Only for the upper class. The lower class still has to go man the gas stations, grocery stores, warehouses, and factories.

Don’t think it has to do with class. Surgeons and dentists still need to show up to work. Even in tech, the higher up you are, the more likely you will want to be in the office.

The upper class at least gets the choice. The lower class does not.

If you don't show up to work, you will be fired. If you are fired for not showing up to work, finding your next income source will be more difficult. This is true regardless of whether you're making $7.50/hr or $350k/yr.

Yes, the doctor making $350k/yr can arrange his life in such a way to be more flexible in the face of diversity, but he's just as likely to have $150k worth of school debt and a house/car/etc. he couldn't afford if he had to switch careers. At $7.50/hr, you can probably walk down the street and find a better paying job.

Edit in reply due to depth restrictions: I'm not suggesting this is about ease of switching careers. I'm suggesting that you will be forced to switch careers if you don't show up to work, and it's probably easier to switch between jobs with no prerequisites than careers with 8 years of intensive prerequisites and $150k in university.

I didn't mean "choice to easily switch to whatever job they want at their convenience" and the notion that I did mean that is so absurd that I find it to be a bad faith read of my comment. I encourage you to first steel-man my position. Or don't, that's fine too. Just don't respond with such a technical and self-assured response that is in fact arguing against a point you yourself imagined (and is not rooted in reality). It is exhausting to debate against, especially on the internet.

You are missing the feedback loop - if middle class doesn't need to be crammed in a megacity to have a career, then neither does the grocery store.

Yes, this is true. I'm not sure that the opportunity should be foregone for that reason, but it would widen the cultural and living standard has between the classes.

Is this a thing?

Other than one-off communes, I think this is still pretty rare and I’m not aware of it growing due to work from home.

Given that it requires changing property market choices, its only going to happen on a big scale if working from home beds in and people feel they can rely on it longer term.

Having said that, I've seen some adverts for 'student hall ' like living for young professionals. That works because the investor can switch to the actual student market.

I laud your foreseen outcomes but we are far away from everything else we'd need.

ex: A scenario where large public halls are widely built for young workers.

An income to housing ratio that would allow people to make block-level housing choices.

Widely available, affordable, walkable neighborhoods.

As I mention in my other comment, halls for young workers is the one I've actually seen happen already, albeit only at the top end of the market