Rent too high? Get thee to a nunnery

If you're habitually checking the rising cost of real estate, we've got a new habit for you.

As rents soar to the heavens, New Yorkers are seeking out affordable accommodations in an unexpected place: convent boarding houses with nuns, per The Wall Street Journal.

The unusual arrangement is part of a growing interest among affordable housing advocates in boarding houses, which once housed many lower income Americans but were nearly zoned out of existence.

Houses of the Holy

Living with nuns may come with a curfew and other restrictions, but in a city where the median rent is $3,616, paying a third of that price makes the sister act worth it for many people.

• Rents range from ~$580 to ~$1.6k/month.
  
  
• Utilities, Wi-Fi, and meals are often included, and residents often help with household duties.
  
  
• Convents range from ~10 to ~90 rooms.
  
  
• Some boarding houses are women-only, others have separate floors.
  
  
• Women-only houses typically prohibit male visitors and most ban alcohol.

Beyond affordability, many residents appreciate the safety and community that the nuns provide — not to mention karaoke nights.

All aboard

While a convent may seem like a novel solution to the affordable housing crisis, they're actually a vestige of a housing option once prevalent throughout the US.

• Boarding houses — or single room occupancies (SROs) — rose to prominence in the late 19th century with rooms ranging from $100 to $300/month (adjusted for inflation).
  
  
• Many designed to accommodate working women, and many created by faith-based organizations (heard of the YMCA?).
  
  
• By the 1950s, New York had over 200k SRO units — over 10% of the city's rental housing stock.
  
  
• But in the 1970s, zoning and building codes made SROs illegal or economically unviable — which many say increased homelessness.

Now, legislation and pilot programs in multiple states are testing the waters for a boardhouse revival to provide affordable housing to more Americans.

Meanwhile startups like HomeRoom are scaling the model of co-living spaces for investors.

Budget-friendly travelers are also finding convents and monasteries to be an inexpensive option with listings on Monasteries.com and Monastery Stays.

One Scottish soccer fan even discovered the generous hospitality (and affordability) of a NYC convent while visiting for the World Cup.

Amen to that.