People say travel opens your eyes up to opportunity. When you travel, you meet new people, immerse yourself in different cultures and you are given a glimpse outside of what you are normally used to. This forces you to take in new and refreshing perspectives, and will ultimately teach you that the way you’ve been looking at the world isn’t the way everybody else does. You realise that your point-of-view might have some major blind spots and being immersed in other cultures can improve your vision. This is exactly what happened to us, Simplicity Coliving.

We often refer to ourselves as citizens of the world. We are well-traveled individuals – some of us have spent a good amount of time living in foreign countries – who are comfortable anywhere. The idea of creating a coliving space in the Philippines was brought forth by our experience in staying in hostels and capsule hotels all over the world. It had sprung from the notion that no matter where one is from, where you’ve lived and what you do in life, people can still come together. You realise that in the grand scheme of things, people are essentially the same.

Our CEO, Martin Escalona, had this idea brewing in his mind, but did not act on it until I shared my experience of living in San Francisco. I shared that while apartment rent prices in San Francisco were generally high, there were cheaper alternatives you could choose, without sacrificing living in key areas of the city. Clearly, the coliving idea was not new, but it was something that has not been explored in the Philippines. Martin thought, how can this idea be replicated in a country like the Philippines where housing options are scant? How can we provide affordable housing without foregoing beauty and comfort? This got him moving. He started to contact people who could be key partners in this venture. That was 2017. Fast forward to three years later, and Simplicity Coliving came to fruition.

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The year 2020 started on a positive note. We were finally going to open our doors and we had high hopes for it not only because it was a new year, but also because it was the dawn of a new decade. There was something very promising about the notion that we, at Simplicity, were filled with excitement and anticipation for what was to come. The construction of the coliving space had just been completed, furniture and fixtures had been properly placed and installed – after years of planning, building and setting up foundations, Simplicity was finally ready to open its doors. But something hit us unexpectedly. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, everything came to a halt. Countries across the world, including the Philippines, were forced to implement full lockdowns. As a result, people left and right lost their jobs, some businesses closed, others were forced to pivot.

Every business will have to pivot at some point or another. We always knew that but it never occurred to us that we would have to do it even before the Simplicity Coliving was operational.

We had a solid plan. Our goal was simply to provide affordable but high-quality housing to students and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) employees in the Philippines. Simplicity Coliving is located in Fairview, which is one of the key cities in the country that have become ground zero for the flourishing BPO industry. However, in an industry known for its low to average wages and high-intensity work environment, many Filipinos found it difficult to adjust to stress-filled jobs. In addition to that, most Filipino BPO employees live outside of the city and therefore find themselves commuting across the metro area for hours just to get to work. This was where we had envisioned Simplicity to come into play. We were strategically located to capture our target market. Furthermore, schools and universities were close by so we had already built up partnerships with some of them so that it could provide housing to their students at a special rate. However, because of the pandemic, we had to scrap this plan of action and figure out a way for Simplicity to survive in this new normal.

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In an effort to help our country’s healthcare workers, the team decided to open up Simplicity to serve as temporary housing for them. Because of the lockdown, public transportation was suspended so our healthcare workers had to endure unbearably long walks just to get to work. With Simplicity situated in a key location that was also near hospitals, we felt the need to switch gears and pivot our strategies in response to the effects that this pandemic has brought to our country. We raised funds from donors so that Simplicity would be able to run at full capacity and let healthcare workers stay in the facility with no charge. This allowed Simplicity to house 45 healthcare workers for 45 days for free. The influx of donations eventually came to an end and we had to work out how we could continue to provide housing to frontliners and at the same time be profitable. We began to offer them special weekly rates. We also recognised the inadequate quarantine facilities in the Philippines and soon became such a facility for seafarers that were returning home. What started as an initiative to help our country, became the understructure for how Simplicity was going to navigate the new normal.

Of course, in order to ensure the safety of all our residents, we had to adjust Simplicity’s hygiene and sanitation standards. Apart from the regular cleaning and disinfecting of the coliving space, – which is done every two hours – we had set up disinfection tents, foot baths, and hand sanitiser stations on every corner of our facility. We put up safety posters on the walls as well, so that residents will be reminded to continuously practice proper hygiene. Strict rules were implemented, such as leaving footwear outside before entering, and wearing house slippers and masks while inside Simplicity. And even though Simplicity had a capsule bed design, social distancing was still strongly enforced so that only every other bed was occupied. Temperature checks of residents and employees is also done on a regular basis, and the use of mobile keys was carried out to further reduce contact.

We found that these measures were really important to take to make people feel safe and healthy within Simplicity’s walls. We spent many days and nights deliberating and navigating the loopholes in the original structure to discover the ways that we can create a safer and cleaner environment for our residents. The residents’ health was our primary concern.

From an outsider’s point of view, moving into a shared community might be the last thing one would want to do, especially in a time when government and health officials are encouraging social distancing and isolation. One might question the value of living with people who are essentially strangers at first, while trying to mitigate health risks. But based on our experience, we found that the result was encouraging.

The workplace environment that healthcare workers belong to has levels of stress that are unlike any other. And it’s safe to assume that the stress that they must feel now with the COVID-19 pandemic is substantially higher compared to how it was when the year began. While the government has currently lifted the lockdown in the Philippines, public transportation is still very limited in the country. This means that healthcare workers still spend hours on their commute which they could have just spent resting. Furthermore, many of these healthcare workers fear that they might inadvertently carry the virus home, so they have chosen to live in self-isolation to protect their families, which brings about feelings of loneliness. All of these factor into a healthcare worker’s physical and emotional wellbeing and could result in lower productivity.

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When Simplicity started to accept healthcare workers, many of them remarked how it was such a relief to have a decent place to rest and recharge. One said that it felt great knowing that he had a place nearby to come home to after a long day at work. While another stated how nice it was to be in the company of people and to be in an environment that promotes human connection. There’s no doubt that Simplicity’s residents are dealing with the scary realities and potential repercussions of living in a shared home during a global pandemic. But from their sentiments alone, we can tell that they are thankful to be waiting it out with like minded individuals. Coliving, for them, has helped retain some sense of normalcy.

There is no way to know how long this pandemic is going to last. Frankly, it’s too early to tell if this is permanent but the changes brought on by COVID-19 in the business standpoint is forcing all of us to reevaluate our strategies. One of our goals as a company has always been to foster a community within the coliving industry. We are always on the lookout for other companies – locally and internationally – that we can partner with not only to make Simplicity a better and safer place for our residents, but also so we can push coliving to the forefront of housing across the globe amidst the ongoing pandemic. Just as the concept behind coliving focuses on connection, we aspire to collaborate, share knowledge and build lasting relationships with people in the coliving industry and work towards providing a safe and healthy environment, and a better future for all.