Posted on March 3, 2016 by Jake Blumgart in Slate Slate, By Jake Blumgart Gigi lives in a high-rise apartment on the Upper West Side for less than she used to pay for a smaller third-floor walk-up in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The two-bedroom in Manhattan is shabby in some ways, but the rent can’t be beat: less than $1,000 a month for a safe, transit-rich neighborhood with plenty of shopping. The apartment is less than 10 minutes from the nearest subway stop, and the commute to her office is less than half an hour.* There are a couple downsides. For one Gigi, who is 33, lives with her parents and her sister, who has to sleep in the living room. And the whole arrangement is illegal.
