NORTH LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As Las Vegas locals continue to struggle with the affordability of housing, PadSplit, a co-living marketplace offering rooms to rent, has become an option.
“The whole mission of the company is how do we leverage housing as a vehicle for financial empowerment? That's a key element that we think is part and parcel of solving the affordable housing crisis,” said founder and CEO Atticus LeBlanc.
He founded the company in 2017.
It moved into the Las Vegas valley in July of 2022, one of 18 metro areas where people can rent rooms on the platform.
Jawaun Sanders rents a room in North Las Vegas.
Affordability was top of mind when he moved from Pennsylvania.
“I was actually looking for an apartment, and then I came across rooms to rent and PadSplit popped up, and it was the first time I heard of it,” Sanders said.
He didn’t know if he would like Las Vegas, so he turned to PadSplit as a temporary option.
Fast forward a year, and he’s still using it, recognizing the pros and the cons.
He said he’s able to save about $800 a month, but it also means living with people he doesn’t know.
“Yeah, it's cool at times,” he said. “It has its moments but not all the time.”
LeBlanc also addressed security.
“We're running criminal background checks on folks, and I'd say the biggest thing is actually doing identity verification to prevent identity fraud, where there's a facial recognition feature where they literally take a picture of your face holding your ID to make sure that you are who you are claiming to be when you move into the property,” he said. “With all utilities included, all rooms fully furnished, we provide access to telemedicine. we report on-time payment to credit bureaus. There's a pretty good incentive for them to remain in good standing.”
Right now, there are more than 500 rooms on the market.
Some are as low as $175/week with others as much as $350/week.
The vast majority of prices are significantly less than the median price of $1505/month that Redfin found in April.
With a $27,000 median income for PadSplit renters, it’s one way hospitality workers, college students, even seniors on a fixed income can afford to live in the Las Vegas valley.
It’s also another way to save money for something else.
“This is the first time that I was actually able to rent a room without it being no extra crazy mess happening, so yeah, I would definitely recommend it,” Sanders said.
Like anything, experiences can vary and LeBlanc said he’s looking to expand and find more homeowners who want to host.
That would provide more opportunities for people to live.
