A true sense of "home" is often elusive for renters, who typically view their residence as temporary, but establishing that feeling of belonging is essential to a positive living experience. However, that sensation isn't always found within the walls of an individual apartment. Home is often created through a greater connection with one's surroundings, the warmth of community and interpersonal connection.

At multifamily communities, a sense of home is created through shared experiences and common spaces. Communal spaces foster a feeling of togetherness, whether it's a state-of-the-art amenity or a modest lounge area. Areas that bring people together and offer an opportunity for interaction are invaluable to cultivating feelings of home and membership in a larger community.

Unfortunately, community spaces at multifamily communities, as well as the fellowship they inspire, are being erased. The global surge in online consumerism in recent years has produced an unending wave of packages arriving at apartment communities daily, and common areas are typically the first to be sacrificed for storage purposes. Lounges have become banks of package lockers. Business centers have become package rooms. Leasing offices and other gathering spaces are now filled to the ceiling with new package arrivals. As those community spaces are lost to package storage, so are the connections that were forged there.

The problem is the solutions

The problem isn't package volume, but the shortsighted, unsustainable solutions that have been deployed. Package volume will only continue to increase. Pre-existing package lockers and storage rooms have already become insufficient, and sacrificing additional onsite space to storage systems is a Band Aid fix. Multifamily property managers must look outside the box, and offsite, for their package management systems.

Third-party, off-site package management solutions receive and store packages offsite, and coordinate with residents to schedule direct-to-door delivery at a time of their choosing. Packages are never left onsite, so they can't clutter common areas. Onsite storage space isn't required, making package lockers and package rooms obsolete. With third-party, offsite package management, property teams don't need to sacrifice common areas for escalating package management needs. In fact…

Communities can reclaim their common areas

Instead of slowly watching treasured common areas become inundated with packages or eliminated entirely to make room for deliveries, third-party package management enables teams to repurpose their current package storage facilities. The space occupied by package lockers can become a social lounge or coffee bar. Teams can transform package rooms into coworking spaces, a fitness room or even monetize the space by creating a rentable amenity or additional apartments.

Space is precious at multifamily communities, and it should always be used to enhance the resident experience. Current e-commerce trends don't need to consume the physical square footage and the sense of community at multifamily properties. By taking package management offsite, teams can maintain or even expand their communal spaces. They have the opportunity to strategically foster interpersonal connections between residents through creative and dynamic common areas. There is value-add potential in replacing on-site package facilities.

Most importantly, when residents see their management teams increasing common spaces, emphasizing residents' needs and improving the place they call home, it builds a shared sense of community as well as resident loyalty.