#Rent #CommunalLivingSpaces #Co-Living #SharedLiving #PodShare Cassidy Claire Risien, 34, is an actor and artist living in Los Angeles but, even with her day job as a spin instructor, her budget is tight. Despite that, she lives in a newly renovated townhouse in trendy Venice, California — just seven blocks from the beach. "I had been living by myself and it was no longer sustainable," she said. In an online search for rentals in her area, she set the price range to its lowest setting and a communal living, or co-living, option popped up among the results. Now Risien pays less than a $1,000 a month to live at Haven, a co-living community. Co-living spaces bring together a group of people, likely strangers, in a shared space. Often, there are private sleeping quarters but the kitchens and work areas are communal spaces. For many like Risien, sluggish wage growth and sky-high rents in many cities have made it unaffordable to live alone. That's part