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Alexandre Frankel, CEO of Vitacon and creator of Housi (Photo: Disclosure)
Mobility by application was one of the first services to consolidate with a platform-based business model, and he indicated that it can be more advantageous, either for practicality or cost, to use a car as needed. The same movement would be taking place with the house itself. The idea of making a high investment to own a property and have to live in it would be losing popularity and opening space for the adoption of a flexible housing model.
For Alexandre Frankel, CEO of Vitacon and creator of Housi, the rising cost of real estate, credit constraints, and a very long-term financing commitment make the dream of homeownership fade. Social changes also contribute to this. “They are new habits, new paradigms. The concept of home ownership comes from another era, when people married in their twenties and worked their entire lives in the same place, ”says Frankel.
Today, according to Frankel, it makes more sense to opt for temporary use of property agreements and with friendlier terms than the standard rental agreement. And, of course, much easier than the commitment to acquire a property. It would be something between an Airbnb and a rental. “It fits in your pocket, you don’t have to take on a long debt and make life easier, as your needs can change at any time.”
It is no coincidence that the startup Housi, created by Alexandre, has a business model of “subscription housing” or “on demand”. The company has just announced the expansion of its activities, until now concentrated in the capital of São Paulo. With the arrival in new cities in the country, the projection is to reach R $ 10 billion in the value of the managed properties at the end of the year.
In the Housi model, the ‘signature’ of the house involves a package of other services, such as refrigerated warehouses to receive purchases, air-conditioned lockers, rooms prepared for aesthetic services and procedures, shared tool space, shared kitchen to receive cooks, collective laundry , subscriptions to streaming services and infrastructure for cars and electric and shared bicycles. These services are offered in association with other companies and brands. “We think of the entire building as a housing solution, as extensions of the apartment,” he says.
The executive now launches in November a book on the “end of home ownership”, written in partnership with the journalist Leão Serva. “How to Live in a Homeless World” addresses what he calls a homeless generation, a new group that would be growing up and moving away from the idea of owning their own property. “The homeless generation doesn’t want to be stuck in one place or in debt for 30 years. They want freedom,” says Alexandre. “Life is dynamic. We will have a new relationship with housing.”
Book: How to live in a homeless world, written by Alexandre Frankel and Leão Serva (Photo: Disclosure)
The book also brings the story of 11 people who have already adopted this lifestyle and research and analysis on the subject. Among the contributions of the experts is the article by Ben Ross Schneider, a political scientist at MIT, on how the new economy has favored the concept of flexible housing. “Anyone with a home office can work from anywhere. These nomads appreciate the flexibility of short-term rental contracts, ”writes Schneider.
A survey by Ipespe (Institute for Social, Political and Economic Research) carried out in August of this year shows that among young people between 16 and 24 years old, 82% say they prefer a property with a flexible contract to buying a property via financing. But the preference would not only be in the younger age groups. According to Frankel, the idea of saying goodbye to home ownership is beginning to win over people of different age groups and social classes. We speak of all ages and social groups ”.
The executive considers that the change is a business opportunity for companies, since it will increase the demand for solutions that allow people to consume housing, without necessarily buying. “It’s a transformation in the industry as a whole,” he says.
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