Faced with rising housing costs and shrinking homelessness budgets, Los Angeles is considering whether to expand shared housing—a lower-cost model where people live in shared houses with private rooms or beds—-as an alternative for lower-income renters, older adults and people experiencing homelessness.
A Los Angeles City Council motion led by Councilmember Bob Blumenfield directed city departments to study how the model can be used more widely across Los Angeles. These arrangements typically involve unrelated individuals living in the same home, either by choice or through housing programs, while sharing kitchens, bathrooms and other common areas. The motion calls for evaluating potential landlord incentives, roommate-matching programs and integration with housing vouchers.
“Shared housing offers a vital alternative to the limited interim beds and permanent supportive housing units currently available in the homeless response system,” Blumenfield said in a statement Friday. “This community-based approach not only expands housing options, but also promotes social connection and stability.”
Blumenfield, who represents Council District 3 in the west San Fernando Valley, said he has already piloted shared housing in his district through a partnership with the nonprofit SHARE!
At this week’s Housing and Homelessness Committee meeting, Jason Robison, chief program officer at SHARE! said the group’s work in Council District 3 has since expanded across the city and county, delivering faster, lower-cost placements than traditional housing programs.
“Since we started working with CD3 in 2022 with a small contract to house 15 people, we’ve housed 103 people at a fraction of the cost, and we’ve grown throughout the city and the county,” he said. “We urged the council to scale this kind of housing across every City Council district, where we can be effective and efficient.”
The committee voted Wednesday to move the motion forward with two amendments, including instructions for Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to report back on master-leasing opportunities and the feasibility of using Measure ULA and Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency dollars to support shared housing.
The discussion reflected a growing recognition that shared housing, while not a new idea, may now be gaining urgency as budgets tighten and the city confronts steep timelines in the city’s settlement with the LA Alliance for Human Rights, a federal lawsuit that challenged the city’s and county’s response to homelessness.
“As we see the reductions in the federal government, reduction in funding from all levels of government, we have to encourage people to have other creative solutions,” Blumenfield told colleagues during the meeting. “In the past, there was a stigma that if you had shared housing, it wasn’t as good as having a single unit. I think it depends on the situation.”
City reports outlines a path, but few programs exist
The motion, first introduced in March 2024, directed the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) to examine shared housing approaches, potential funding streams and strategies to increase availability across the city.
The CLA’s August report, now approved by committee, outlined five core housing models that could apply: congregate housing, co-housing, transitional shared housing, host homes and scattered-site shared housing.
The report noted that LAHSA already runs programs with shared living components, including host homes and time-limited subsidies, but said scaling up the model would require new supports — such as a rental registry, roommate-matching systems, and landlord incentives like those HACLA offers through its Homeless Incentive Program, which offers free rent to hold units, help with security deposits and utilities, and up to $2,000 in damage mitigation.
The Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD), which the CLA report recommends should lead efforts to expand shared housing said in a statement that it has not yet begun work, since the motion hasn’t reached the full City Council.
LAHD’s spokesperson Sharon Sandow said, “We look forward to doing more analysis on this model – including the benefits and potential limitations – since we do recognize the need for a variety of housing strategies to fully meet the spectrum of housing needs here in Los Angeles.”
Providers said the model works for the right population
Service providers familiar with shared housing say the model isn’t a silver bullet, but it offers flexibility for seniors and Social Security Income recipients.
PATH, a nonprofit housing and homelessness services provider, has partnered with SHARE! for more than a decade and refers clients to its homes, most of which are single-family residences with one to two beds per room and a peer support structure.
Haley Fuselier, PATH’s senior director of Greater LA Programs, said the shared housing model is especially effective for clients with fixed income or those rebuilding stability.
“It has to be one of the top options now because our participants that have fixed income cannot afford a fair market apartment,” she said Friday. “We have to lean into it, or else we’re going to leave out a population or not be able to support it because the funding is just not going to carry us.”
She noted that PATH’s participants in the shared housing program include older adults on Social Security, individuals coming from encampments and people who thrive in a peer-based environment.
“Some of them do not necessarily want to live on their own. They want a community, and that is the kind of participant that is most appropriate for this,” Fuselier said.
She also noted that the SHARE! model offers more than just beds: staff or peer mentors regularly check in, helping with job searches and resumes. Some homes are designated for seniors, others for LGBTQ residents or women recovering from trauma.
The People Concern, another service provider, has run its own shared housing program for nearly 15 years, outside of the SHARE! model. The organization currently houses about two dozen individuals in shared apartments and a six-bedroom home, with a 92% retention rate on par with its traditional permanent supportive housing units.
“We need all housing resources that are available,” said John Maceri, CEO of The People Concern. “ Some people will do better in their own units. Some people do better in shared housing. It really depends on the individual and the needs of the individual.”
Maceri added, “ Finding units that are available and are affordable at the rent levels that people can afford to pay, that’s the biggest challenge.”
Not without friction, but cheaper and faster
At Wednesday’s committee meeting, Councilmember Heather Hutt raised questions about how the city would ensure fair housing protections, handle roommate conflicts and avoid overburdening neighborhoods where shared homes might cluster.
Staff said those issues would be addressed in implementation guidelines and case management structures, including “meet-and-greet” screenings, shared living agreements, and compatibility assessments.
But housing officials acknowledged that data on shared housing performance is limited, and that the city’s own pilot with SHARE! has yet to be formally evaluated. The Chief Legislative Analyst recommended a report on outcomes and cost-effectiveness, a step LAHSA and LAHD have yet to take.
Even so, Blumenfield and other supporters said the model is worth pursuing now, not later. “With the reductions in funding from all levels of government, shared-housing is a cost-effective solution that allows people to share the cost of housing and stretch publicly funded rental vouchers longer,” he said. “I hope to see more shared housing options made available across the city for our unhoused community members.”
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