Converting Office Space to Micro-apartments

Briefing Document: Converting Houston Offices into Micro-Housing

Subject: Feasibility of Converting Vacant Houston Office Space into Affordable Micro-Apartments

Source: “Study proposes converting Houston offices into micro-housing – InnovationMap” (CultureMap, Feb 24, 2025)

Executive Summary: A recent study by Pew Charitable Trust and Gensler suggests converting vacant office buildings in Houston into affordable micro-apartments as a feasible solution to address the growing housing crisis and high office vacancy rates. This “co-living” model, reminiscent of single-room occupancy (SROs), offers furnished private rooms with shared amenities, significantly reducing construction costs and rental rates. The study proposes a rental rate of $700 per month, inclusive of all costs, making downtown living accessible to low-income earners.

Key Themes and Ideas:

• Growing Housing Crisis and Office Vacancy: Houston faces a double challenge: rising homelessness and high office vacancy rates, exacerbated by the post-COVID shift.
• “Nationwide, commercial vacancies are becoming increasingly noteworthy as the gap between residential rental rates and stagnant wages widens.”
• Houston’s central business district contains 88 office buildings of over 50,000 square feet, 19 of which show reported vacancy rates of over 30 percent.”
• Co-living as a Solution: The study proposes converting vacant office buildings into co-living spaces with micro-apartments, echoing the historical success of SROs.
• “The “Flexible Co-Living Housing Feasibility Study” found that converting Houston’s empty office buildings to communities of micro-apartments is, well, feasible.”
• Cost-Effectiveness: Leveraging existing building infrastructure, particularly plumbing, significantly reduces conversion costs compared to traditional apartment conversions.
• “The utilization of existing centralized plumbing on each floor saves an average of 25-35 percent in construction costs that would arise from running new plumbing to each unit.”
• Affordability and Accessibility: The micro-apartment model aims to provide affordable housing options, particularly for low-income individuals, in desirable urban locations.
• “The proposed rental rate for a furnished micro-apartment in a converted office building in downtown Houston is $700 — all inclusive, with zero move-in costs, as the units are fully furnished.”
• Community Building: Co-living promotes socialization and combats the increasing isolation experienced by single occupants, particularly post-pandemic.
• “The co-living model allows for a private furnished space, while bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry are shared facilities…this model promotes socialization and community, something that has been trending downward since the pandemic.”
• Prototype Details: The study provides a detailed prototype for a converted building, including floor plans, shared amenities, and individual unit specifications.
• “The Pew/Gensler report proposes a prototypical building standard of 24 floors, 19 of which are residential, with 60 micro-apartments per floor, or 1,140 residential units per building.”
• “Each individual unit is designed to be 151 square feet…Furnishings include one extra-long twin bed (bedding included), a desk, chair, nightstand, standard-depth half-sized fridge, storage shelf, and cabinet.”

Key Facts and Figures:

• Homelessness in the US: HUD reported that in 2024 homelessness was at an all-time high of 770,000 persons, up a staggering 18 percent from the prior year.
• Houston Homelessness: Houston is on the low end of the national average, with a reported 3,270 homeless persons (4/10,000 Houstonians).
• Houston Office Vacancy: 19 office buildings in Houston’s central business district have vacancy rates exceeding 30%.
• Houston Median Rent (Nov 2024): $1,297
• Proposed Micro-Apartment Rent: $700 (all inclusive)
• Micro-Apartment Size: 151 square feet
• Cost Savings: Co-living conversion is projected to cost around one-third of converting to individual studio apartments or constructing new affordable housing.
• Housing Shortage in the US: “The U.S. has a housing shortage of 4-7 million homes, which has driven rents to an all-time high…”

Quotes of Importance:

• “In the current climate of high construction costs, interest rates, building expenses, and rising rents, this project looks at the conventional office-to-residential conversion in a different way by leveraging the existing building infrastructure to reduce costs on a per unit basis,” – Brooks Howell, principal architect at Gensler
• “Houston has one of the highest office vacancy rates in the U.S., but office layouts often don’t work well for apartment conversions and carry high costs. This study finds that converting offices to dorm-style housing is cost-effective and can enable low rents — about $700 per month to live downtown.” – Alex Horowitz, a project director for Pew Charitable Trust

Conclusion:

The study presents a compelling case for converting vacant office buildings in Houston into affordable micro-apartments. The co-living model offers a cost-effective and potentially impactful solution to address both the housing crisis and office vacancy issues. While subsidies may be required for the initial conversion, the long-term financial sustainability and social benefits of providing affordable urban housing make it a worthwhile consideration for policymakers and developers. The project offers a “jumping off point” that could lead to a number of innovative housing solutions.convert_to_textConvert to sourceNotebookLM can be inaccurate; please double check its responses.