Call it a co-living space, call it a commune, or just call it home.

Whatever you call it, one thing is clear: Co-living — in which big groups of people live together and share well-designed communal spaces and luxe amenities — is all the rage among millennials. Typically, these co-living developments — which have popped up in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco — offer small, fully-furnished studios or bedrooms for residents, with the big draw being large shared living spaces and perks like organized group events and weekly housekeeping that includes clean linens and refreshed toiletries and kitchen supplies.

Sometimes the co-living spaces are more pared down, offering bunk beds in shared rooms. That’s the concept behind Podshare in San Francisco — which CNN reported on recently — where for $1,200 a month you can rent a bunk bed in a shared space. In addition to that bunk bed, the San Francisco Podshare offers you a shared washer/dryer, top-floor sun deck, WiFi, linens and towels.

Residents often speak highly of their co-living spaces: “It’s like living in a dorm again, but more mature. It’s great,” said video game designer and developer Chris McGlade, 24, who lives in an Ollie co-living space in New York City after graduating from college in Boston.

And like in a dorm, community is a big part of the appeal: Ollie — which has opened co-living spaces in cities like New York and Pittsburgh — advertises that you get “friends included” when you move into its spaces, and offers a dedicated community manager who helps organize everything from social mixers to weekend brunches. Common — with 20 co-living spaces in cities such as New York, Seattle and San Francisco -- pitches its residences as “friendly homes” and notes that living at Common means “you’re always invited.” And WeLive (an offshoot of WeWork), which has co-living spots in NYC and D.C., says that it is “a new way of living built upon community” and that its spaces help “foster meaningful relationships.”

Node -- which has properties in places like London, Brooklyn and Dublin -- is literally named because of its sense of community: “We’re called Node because it means a connection between people,” Node’s CEO Anil Khera told Moneyish. “Actually knowing your neighbors and doing things together -- we have lost a bit of that in society,” he added about why people love co-living so much.

For therapist Elle Bernfeld, 29, who has lived at a Common co-living space in Brooklyn since June, the real-life social network was a big draw. “I love having an expanded network of friends that I might not otherwise meet. I like having a sense of community,” she explained. And at McGlade’s coliving space, everyone is so tight that they even celebrate holidays together: “We all had a big Friendsgiving, there were probably 30ish people there, and it was cool because it’s everyone you know -- they are all your friends, because you go to all the [building] events together.”

The affordability factor is a big draw, too, which is why you see these spaces popping up in pricey cities like New York and San Francisco. Though you can certainly rent rooms on Craigslist for less, you typically don’t get all of the amenities that you would with co-living. Common points out that its NYC spaces rent for $1,650 a month, which includes utilities, laundry, wifi, housekeeping and supplies; meanwhile, a room on Craigslist might cost about $1,300 (though many do cost far less), but without those perks. And living in a studio in NYC typically costs even more — which Bernfeld says was a big reason why she opted for co-living instead of solo living. “I have lived alone, but I didn’t want to spend more for a lower quality of living,” she said.

Of course, there are downsides: The major focus on community isn’t for everyone, and there are certainly cheaper ways to live, especially if you don’t need a bunch of amenities. And these co-living developments often skew towards a younger clientele.

Still, co-living isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, experts say. “The younger generation of renters is looking for Instagram-worthy, full turnkey solutions for housing in an affordable way that embraces urban community living,” said Node CEO Khera — who notes that “for every project, we have five to 10 times the demand versus what the supply is.”

That explains why Node opened a new NYC and LA location in the past year, with properties in Toronto and Seattle in the works. And that’s why Ollie currently has seven buildings under development, and roughly 50 more in the pipeline; and why Common just broke ground on a Chicago property in 2018, opened an LA property recently and its first Manhattan locale this year.

Plus, New York City announced last year that it will offer incentives to developers who are building co-living spaces, which could mean more co-living units. “This could be a gamechanger,” said Ollie CEO Christopher Bledsoe. “Other cities look to New York City. They look at what it is doing to fix housing issues. It could become a template for other markets.”

This story was originally published in 2018 and has been updated with information on Podshare.