So you just moved to New York, and you haven’t been able to find an apartment yet. You’ve searched through endless listings on Street Easy, checked out every link on apartments.com, and nothing has seemed to catch your eye. Or maybe you just prefer apartment hunting in person. Whatever your unique situation, you find yourself in need of short-term housing.

Here are a few available options for short stay accommodation in New York

Hostel

A hostel offers very basic, shared accommodation. Each person has their own bed in a shared room, as well as a communal bathroom and kitchen. There are a few hostels that offer private bedrooms, but they are generally more expensive. Still, private rooms in a hostel usually cost less than a standard hotel stay. Hostels in New York appear to start at around $52 a night. HostelWorld is a great place to start your search. Fill in your stay information and the platform will begin generating results.

The biggest advantage to staying in a Hostel is the price. But there are added benefits such as getting to meet new friends from all over the world, the fact that they are usually located in the centre of major cities, free wifi (even though the connection may be on the weaker side), and sometimes complimentary breakfast!

Gypsy housing

Gypsy housing is a private Facebook group that makes it easy to connect with people looking for renters. It has over 288,000 members, making it almost guaranteed that you’ll find a place you love! You have to request permission to join the group, but it’s a pretty easy process. Just log into your Facebook account, click the “join group” button, and gain almost immediate access to thousands of listing.

Each listing specifies the location, the length of time each person is renting their apartment for, how many rooms are available, as well as photos of both the room and apartment. Some people are much more detailed in their descriptions than others, but each listing usually contains at the very least, the information mentioned above. Have any questions? Just ask. Send a direct message to the person who posted the listing, or just leave a comment. Either way, most reply quickly. You can also make plans to see the apartment, and meet up with your potential roommate before making anything official.

Stay with a friend

Staying with a friend may be the most affordable option out of of the ones listed. If you happen to know someone who is already living in the city, reach out to them and explain your situation. They might have an extra room available, or be willing to have you crash on their pull-out couch.

Depending on how long you need a place to stay, they may not even ask you to chip in for rent. This means you could possibly find accommodation free of charge! Offer to pay a bill or two if they provide free accommodation.

If you decide on a different arrangement, in which you agree to compensate them for letting you use their space, it will likely be much less than a typical sub-leasing agreement. If your friend’s price point is more than what you budgeted for, speak to them. Explain your current finances and see If they are willing to re-negotiate.

If for some reason they can’t budge on pricing, maybe they know of other rooms for rent that falls within your price range.
 

Saving the best for last: Co-Living

Co-Living is a form of shared living, in which each individual gets a private room and shares common areas with other roommates. You can choose a 2, 3, 4 or 5 bedroom space, depending on how many roommates you’re willing to tolerate. Amenities are similar to that of Airbnb, with all basic requirements for living usually included. Some even boast better amenities, with SmartTV’s, cleaning services once a week, and private outdoor areas! Starting as low as $1300, this is a cost-effective option for short-term housing.

Another perk to co-living, is that they offer flexible lease terms. Let’s say you originally planned on leasing you current apartment for 3 months, but things didn’t go according to plan and now you have to extend you stay. With other short-stay rentals like Airbnb, you must leave by your check-out date.If you wish to extend your stay past your check-out date, you may run into issues. Airbnb’s are usually booked weeks in advance, so securing dates last minute is unlikely.