Room service: Waiting for new windows

BENGALURU :  It used to be a full house at Sri Lakshmi Ladies PG at RT Nagar till the lockdown was announced in March 2020. But even with the restrictions having been lifted, paying guest accommodations and co-living spaces continue to bear a deserted look. Kavya Shetty, the owner of Sri Lakshmi Ladies PG, says, “The total occupancy of our space was 90. The number came down to 20-25 people during the lockdown, which still helped us pay the salary of the staff.” She currently has around 40 tenants at the place, which she has been running for 11 years. Since IT professionals usually make up the majority of the tenants, many rooms still lie vacant as they continue to work remotely. 

However, not all hope is lost, say owners, who are looking forward to seeing a rise in occupancy after Sankranthi as people are slowly returning. “Even colleges are slowly opening up and students who are not from the city are coming back. Many offices are also making a hybrid system of working from office and remotely compulsory. It’s still negligible but we are hoping things will come back to normal,” says Shetty.

Others like Rahul Baliga, co-founder of FF21, a co-living space, confirm that their branches near IT parks have lower occupancy than other branches. “But the inquiries have increased in the New Year. We have more people interested in areas like HSR Layout, which is closer to the city. But the ones near tech parks are yet to catch up,” says Baliga, who hopes that things will improve once new employees take up jobs. 

The vaccine too might have a role to play, feel some. “The change in numbers right now might not be drastic but as vaccines come in, things will improve as people will get the confidence to come back,” says Nikhil Sikri, CEO, Zolostays. 

Some occupants, however, have bid goodbye to co-living spaces for the time being. Take, for instance, Adyasha Panda. The techie returned home to Sambalpur, Odisha in March last year. With indefinite work from home, she decided to vacate her rented place in the city. “I had paid the rent till October. But since the time period for work from home was uncertain, there was no point in paying rent and not using it,” says Panda.