Product Profile: Common
INDUSTRY
housing
Category
apartment management and development
product Profiled
apartments managed by Common
H-Score
72
ranked 4th of 13 within the housing industry
ranked 9th of 76 overall
product description
Common is a property manager that designs, leases, and manages multifamily properties. Common offers more than 5,000 residential units across 12 cities in the US.(1) Living arrangements include co-living and traditional private apartments.
Common’s core offering is to reduce your cost of living through co-living arrangements, in which residents have private bedrooms, but share common spaces such as kitchens and other living areas.
who’s affected
Common serves people in urban areas who rent apartments. The co-living arrangement lowers the rent considerably, as compared with traditional private apartments. Fifty-seven (57) percent of apartment renters in the US have household incomes of less than $50,000 per year.(2)
influence on health-related behaviors
EATING
slight to moderate positive influence
In its co-living apartments, Common offers shared “high-end” kitchens, with appliances, cookware, dishware and other essentials for home cooking.(3)
Proximity to grocery stores with healthy food options can positively influence eating habits. One metric of a neighborhood’s food environment is whether it is characterized by the USDA as “low access to food stores.”(4) In a sample of Common locations reviewed by Building H, only 4% were in low-access neighborhoods.
- Review the food environment – both access to fresh foods and prevalence of unhealthy food outlets – as part of the decision of where to locate future properties. Use the potential of aggregated demand that a new apartment property would create to encourage investment in local fresh food outlets like grocery stores.
- Facilitate home cooking through:
- experimentation with provision of indoor hydroponic gardening appliances
- establishment of community gardens within properties
- partnerships to provide discounted memberships to local community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms
- partnerships to provide discounted grocery delivery services or meal kit subscriptions
- experimentation with the promotion of food sharing apps to help residents share excess groceries
- Monitor the use of the communal kitchens to understand the impact on residents’ cooking (and eating) habits.
PHYSICAL ACTVITY
slight to moderate positive influence
The walkability of a geographic location has an influence on the physical activity of its residents. In a sample of Common locations reviewed by Building H, approximately 96% were in neighborhoods rated as “very walkable” or better by Walk Score.(5) Nearly 60% were rated as “walker’s paradise.” Not one of their locations were in neighborhoods rated “car-dependent” by Walk Score. Mean Walk Score was 90.3; the median was 93. A higher Walk Score rating for a given neighborhood has been associated with increased physical activity among neighborhood residents.(6)
Common provides amenities that facilitate physical activity in their communities. They offer fitness centers at 7% of a sample of apartment communities reviewed by Building H and bike storage facilities at 33% of their communities.
- Review the walkability, bikeability and access to transit of a neighborhood as part of the decision to build or buy in a certain neighborhood. Use the potential of aggregated demand that a new apartment property would create to advocate for and encourage investment in sidewalks and bike lanes, if not already available.
- Publish data on the walkability, bikeability, and access to transit of property locations.
- Provide bike sharing and scooter sharing services at properties.
- Provide bike storage and bike repair facilities at more of its properties.
- Provide amenities such as fitness centers, playgrounds, swimming pools, parks and walking paths at more of its properties.
Sleeping
neutral influence
There is no indication that Common does anything in the design of their properties to enhance their residents’ sleep experiences.
To the extent that Common’s locations and property designs influence physical activity and time spent outdoors, they could indirectly influence sleep as both of those behaviors are positively correlated with better sleep.
- Promote healthy circadian rhythms by installing circadian LED lighting systems that adjust color temperature to mimic natural light throughout the day.
- Monitor indoor air quality, as it has shown to influence sleep(7) and mitigate where it is poor.
- Provide smart thermostats and appropriate instructions in order to optimize nighttime temperatures for better sleep.
- Use soundproofing and other acoustic design techniques, such as sound-absorbing materials, to reduce noise that could interfere with sleep.
Engaging Socially
neutral influence
Approximately half of Common’s units are based on co-living, which, by its nature, facilitates frequent social interaction and cooperation. Common’s units include shared kitchens and community spaces, like lounges, for social gatherings.(8)
Common also offers a Connect app, for residents to engage with each other and to coordinate plans.(9)
- Engage with residents to understand social interests and develop social programming to foster social interaction and bonding over common interests.
- Offer indoor and outdoor common spaces – such as lounges, clubhouses, playgrounds, swimming pools, sports fields/courts and outdoor cooking facilities – that facilitate both planned community events and casual social interactions among neighbors at more of its properties.
- Experiment with buddy programs, where longtime residents welcome new residents and help them get situated.
- Create arbitration/mitigation plans for neighbor disputes.
Getting Outdoors
slight to moderate positive influence
Neighborhood walkability is a key driver of spending time outdoors. The walkability of Common’s locations (discussed above in physical activity) has an influence on how much time its residents spend outdoors.
Access to public parks can also encourage people to go outdoors. In the sample of Common locations reviewed by Building H, 96% were within a 10-minute walk from a public park.(10)
The natural environment around one’s home can influence how much time people spend outdoors. In the sample of Common locations reviewed by Building H, only 7% were rated “Nature Rich” or “Nature Utopia” by NatureQuant, an organization that characterizes the natural environment around any location.(11) Ninety-three (93) percent of Common’s locations were rated “Nature Light” or “Nature Deficient.” Mean NatureScore was 16.6; the median score 12.8. A higher NatureScore for a given neighborhood has not been directly correlated with more time spent outdoors by its residents, but it has been correlated with many improvements in health outcomes that are consistent with more time spent in nature.(12)
The bike storage, offered at 33% of properties Building H sampled, could facilitate time spent outdoors.
- Pursue opportunities noted above related to neighborhood walkability, bikeability and access to transit.
- Pursue opportunities noted above related to outdoor amenities such as playgrounds, community gardens and walking paths.
Notes
Common. Common is creating better living through convenience and community. Common website, accessed November 16, 2023.
Household Incomes. National Multifamily Housing Council website, accessed November 10, 2023.
Why Common. Common website, accessed August 30, 2023.
The “low-access to food” designation means that a significant portion of residents of the Census tract are more than one mile (if urban) or more than 10 miles (if rural) from the nearest supermarket or large grocery store. See U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Food Access Research Atlas: Measuring Access to Food.
Walk Score is a methodology for assessing the walkability of a location, using a proprietary algorithm that factors in walking proximity to amenities and pedestrian friendliness. Walk Score is based on a scale of 0-100. Locations scoring 49 or under are considered “car-dependent;” Locations scoring 70 or more are rated “very walkable.” Those scoring 90 and above are labeled “walker’s paradise.” See https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml for more on the Walk Score methodology.
Erica Twardzik et al. Walk Score and objectively measured physical activity within a national cohort. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Volume 73, Issue 6 (June 2019), pp. 549-556.
Jianhong Liu et al. Air pollution exposure and adverse sleep health across the life course: A systematic review. Environmental Pollution. Volume 262 (July 2020).
Why Common. Common website, accessed November 16, 2023.
Ibid.
Based on a geographical analysis using ParkServe, a tool provided by the Trust for Public Land.
NatureScore is a methodology for measuring the amount and quality of natural elements of any location developed by NatureQuant. NatureScores are on a 0-100 scale and are translated to descriptive assessments using the following code: 0-19.9: “Nature Deficient”; 20-39.9: “Nature Light”; 40-59.9: “Nature Adequate”; 60-79.9: “Nature Rich”; 80-100: “Nature Utopia.” See Delivering Technology to Assess and Promote Nature Exposure. NatureQuant White Paper. 2020.
NatureQuant (2020).