The Headquarters Kobe
🇬🇧
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HQは幸せになれるハウス！？

ゲスト

🇬🇧 English translation follows the Japanese text below.

退去した元住人カップルがゲストとして遊びに来た

ハウスにゲストがやってきました。といっても６月末にHQを退去したT君とRさんの元住人カップル（しかもこれ仲良しペアルックやなｗ）。
彼らは学生なので節約のため２人でHQの１部屋に住んでいましたが、この度めでたく外に部屋を借りて同棲開始。ハウスに貢献してくれた２人なので退去になるのは残念でしたが、若い二人の門出は祝わないといけないですからね笑。

HQをきっかけに幸せになっていく住人たち

彼ら以外にも、過去に同棲開始を理由に退去した女性が複数いるし（うちひとりは結婚してたまに遊びに来てくれます😊）、住人だった男女が退去後にカップルになった例もあるみたい。あとは最近うちに来て資格試験に合格して転職に成功したひとも。なんだかHQをひとつのきっかけとして幸せになってくれるのは嬉しいですね。運営者としての幸せです。

コミュニティが薄いシェアハウスに共通する２つのこと

ところでシェアハウスの運営って簡単なようで難しい面もあると思っています。ヘッドクオーターズの入居希望者の中には、たまに近隣のシェアハウスに居住中ながら「今住んでるところはコミュニティがほとんど無くて・・」と言ってくるひとがいます（このT君も実はそうだった）。中には盗難や喧嘩などのトラブルが多いハウスも聞きます（もちろん全体としては少数です、良いハウスもいっぱいありますからね）。シェアハウスって住人同士の交流が魅力なので、それが不十分だったりすると残念ですよね。

そういうハウスに住んでいる人に話を聞くと共通するのが、①入居に特に条件も審査もなく誰でも受け入れる、②入居後に運営側のサポートや介入がほとんど無い、という２点です。安い家賃や初期費用を理由に希望してくるひとを誰でも入れてるとやはり中にはトラブルを起こすひともいるので、そういうひとにはご遠慮頂くか、ちゃんと共同生活の覚悟をしてもらって入って頂くことが大事です。また歓迎会や送別会などコミュニティ的な仕掛けをしないと仲良くもなりにくいでしょう。

リビングやキッチンにひとが集まるための工夫

リビングなど共有部にひとが居たくなるハードウエアとしての工夫も大事ですね（シェアハウスの中にはリビングが無いところもあります）。ヘッドクオーターズの場合は、自炊推しにしてキッチンの道具類を充実させたり、リビングで楽しめるゲームなどを充実させています。また、住人の意見を吸い上げたり設備やルールに伴ういろんな問題を適切に処理しないと、不満も溜まってしまいます。そういうことをしない運営者って、意外と多いんですよね。。

利回り重視の運営と、コミュニティ重視の運営

シェアハウスって大きな分類では不動産業の一部なので、オーナー/経営者にとっては一般的には「利回り」が一番大事です。利回りを上げるには入居者をだれでも入れることになります。アパート/マンションなど他の業態から、なんとなく流行っていると聞いたという理由でシェアハウス運営を始めたところは、比較的コミュニティを軽視しがちなので、あまり運営がうまくいかないんじゃと思います。

長くなりましたが、ヘッドクオーターズ神戸はハードウエアよりもソフトとしてのコミュニティを重視しているよ、というお話でした。住人が楽しそうに住んでくれて幸せになってくれれば最高ですね😊

もっと読む

ハウスのコミュニティや共用部のことは、こちらのページでも紹介しています。

A former resident couple came back to visit

We had a guest at the house recently. It was actually a former resident couple, T and R, who moved out of HQ at the end of June (and yes, they still match outfits like the lovey-dovey pair they are lol).
They’re both students, so to save money they had been sharing a single room at HQ, but this time they’ve happily moved out to rent their own place together and start living as a couple. They contributed a lot to the house, so it was sad to see them go, but of course you have to celebrate a young couple starting their new life together, right? Haha.

Residents who found happiness with HQ as a stepping stone

They’re not the only ones — several other women have moved out in the past to move in with a partner (one of them actually got married and still stops by to visit sometimes 😊), and there have been cases where male and female residents who lived here at the same time ended up becoming a couple after moving out. And just recently, someone who moved in passed a qualification exam and successfully changed careers. It makes me really happy to see HQ become a stepping stone toward people’s happiness. As the person running this place, that’s its own kind of happiness for me.

Two things share houses with weak community have in common

By the way, running a share house looks simple on the surface, but I think it’s actually a fairly tricky business. Among the people who apply to live at The Headquarters, I sometimes hear from applicants currently living at other nearby share houses who say things like, “Where I live now barely has any community at all…” (T, actually, was one of those people too). I’ve also heard of houses with frequent trouble like theft or fighting among residents (of course, that’s a minority overall — there are plenty of great houses out there). Since the whole appeal of a share house is the interaction between residents, it’s a real shame when that part falls short.

When I talk to people living in houses like that, two things tend to come up again and again: (1) there’s little to no screening or conditions for moving in — basically anyone can join, and (2) there’s almost no support or involvement from management after move-in. If you let in anyone who applies just because the rent or move-in costs are cheap, inevitably some of them cause problems. So it’s important to either turn those people away, or make sure everyone moving in genuinely understands and accepts what shared living involves. On top of that, without community-building touches like welcome parties or farewell parties, it’s hard for people to really get close to one another.

Making the living room and kitchen places people want to be

The physical setup matters too — making common spaces like the living room somewhere people actually want to hang out (some share houses don’t even have a living room). At The Headquarters, for example, we lean into home cooking and keep the kitchen well stocked with tools, and we also keep the living room stocked with games and things people can enjoy together. And if you don’t make an effort to listen to residents’ opinions and properly handle the various issues that come up with facilities or house rules, dissatisfaction just builds up over time. Surprisingly, there are quite a few operators out there who don’t do any of this.

Running for yield vs. running for community

Broadly speaking, running a share house falls under the real estate business, so for most owners and operators, “yield” tends to be the top priority. And to boost yield, the easiest path is to let anyone move in. Places that started running a share house just because it seemed like a trend, coming from other property types like apartments or condos, tend to underestimate the importance of community — and I think that’s usually why things don’t go so well for them.

This got long, but the point was simply this: at The Headquarters Kobe, we care more about the software — the community — than the hardware. Nothing would make us happier than seeing our residents live here happily and find their own happiness along the way 😊

Read more

Here are a few pages with more about our community and shared spaces.