The NY Post actually wrote a fair and well-researched article on Congressional couch crashers

[BeyondGeography]

https://nypost.com/2018/05/01/these-politicians-are-sleeping-in-their-dc-offices-to-save-money/

No pay hikes since 2009, a pricey real estate market, the need to maintain two residences, put kids through school, etc. Members in both parties are using their offices as bedrooms to save money.

Either their mutual misery could lead to more humane politics or a rich-person only Congress. I guess I know where my money would go on that question, but this is worth reading anyway, IMO.

[Sherman A1]

1. We could build them some dorms

Let them live rent free, set them up so that Dems and Republicans would have to interact with one another on a human scale, eat dinner together, talk about family, toss a few basketballs 🏀 and alike. I think it would go a long way towards making Congress work better.

[sharp_stick]

2. I like that idea

The rich ones would be pretty pissed off as would the hard core partisans but it might at least make them see each other as human.

[Sherman A1]

4. Thanks

I believe a couple of sets for the House and the Senate would be in order or even mixed Senate and House. With the living arrangements rotated every 4 years so that they meet new members from different areas of the country. We are all in this together and they need to be as well. A gym, theater, dining hall, parking and what have you. As a taxpayer, I’m fine with paying for all of that, if we can get beyond the partisan bickering and do the work for which they are sent to DC to do.

[jberryhill]

5. Dorms would save a lot of headaches

[Phoenix61]

6. I like your idea but I think they should rotate every year

Just like college. I think there is something to be said for making it mandatory. Make them live like most of America does. See how many rich assholes want to serve the public then.

[malthaussen]

3. Not without merit...

... but we'd have to have some way to force them all to live in the same dorm.

-- Mal

[Ilsa]

8. We don't have to force to live in dorms, just force them

not to live in their offices. They can choose between dorm or getting their own place, or getting a large place and sharing it with other congresscritters.

[Ilsa]

7. I like that idea, too.

Small apartments, a few spacious common areas to congregate, chill out, eat together.

[obamanut2012]

16. And, they can pay rent

[Stallion]

9. Yes They Could Live in the Dorms As long as They Pass their Mandated Drug Tests

[zipplewrath]

10. That was actually in the article

There are some old dorm type buildings that were used for the pages. They could be offered space over there. I've often thought the states should buy/build/rent places for their reps and they get to use it a bit like the president and vice use publicly funded housing. Texas could have a 5 bedroom McMansion and Wyoming could have a 5 story walk up.
Some states could offered shared housing for their senators. Considering how many are from opposite parties, it could have a decent effect.

[EffieBlack]

18. Some Members actually do rent small rooms in various buildings

But there aren't many of those available. And there's not much space in the Capitol Hill area for dorms - the real estate is too precious.

[zipplewrath]

20. Well, there's already "dorms"

Not sure what their current condition is. They may have to be modified for use by congress critters as oppose to the former pages.

[EffieBlack]

21. Not enough space for too many Members.

They'd also have to find housing for the interns, students and pages who are currently housed there, since they could not have the Members/Senators and those young employees staying in the same housing.

[zipplewrath]

22. There's no House Page program anymore

Not sure if the building has already been put to an alternative use. And I do wonder, once modified, how many it could house. Estimates put the number of members sleeping in their offices in the 50 - 100 range. I'm dubious the dorm could house quite that many.

[csziggy]

32. At one point it was considered for a daycae center

Defunct House Page Dorm Eyed for Day Care Facility
Posted Mar 2, 2016 12:58 PM
Stephanie Akin

A former dormitory for House pages is being eyed as a potential day care facility. While that may relieve space considerations for the popular day care program, at least one lawmaker is concerned it could also be the last blow to the defunct page program.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan has asked for a review of whether the space could be used as a daycare facility, according to Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers. The First Street building has sat idle since the page program was ended in 2011. The program, which had brought hundreds of teenagers to work for Congress, was officially the victim of budget cuts and technology changes but the announcement came on the heels of a series of embarrassing stories involving the pages and elected officials. The Senate program remains in place.

"The thing is, if you do too much construction that changes it from it being able to go back to being a dormitory, then we’ll never be able to go back to the page program," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz D-Fla., said Tuesday at a hearing of the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, where Ayers made the revelation about Ryan's request.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/defunct-house-page-dorm-eyed-day-care-facility

Apparently the page program was re-started after that:

Local 16-year-old will spend five months as US Senate page

Sep 5, 2017
By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Brigid Hosmer, a 16-year-old junior at Tilton School, will be spending the next five months as a page in the United States Senate. She's thrilled by the opportunity to learn how the Senate operates.

“I've always been interested in politics because my dad was a state senator. Now I'll have a chance to see the process in action and gain more of an understanding of the how things work,” said Hosmer.

Her mother, Donna Hosmer, told her about the opportunity two years ago, and said her mother was so excited when she called her from New York City last month to tell her that she had just heard from U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's office that she had been accepted, that her mother yelled with excitement.

“I'm really grateful for the opportunity,” said Brigid, who left Sunday for the nation's capital, where she will be living at the Daniel Webster Senate Page Residence.
https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news/local/local--year-old-will-spend-five-months-as-us/article_0de1a13e-f3d9-564a-a4fb-8ee0d8486d03.html

[Iggo]

11. Oh.My.God. That is fucking genius!

[Action_Patrol]

12. They are already built.

The House Page dorm is still there. The program was ended but there is a dorm still available.

[meow2u3]

13. That sounds like a very good idea

But there's one problem: what about female members of Congress? We'd have to build two dorms: a larger one for the men and a smaller, but growing dorm for women.

[Sherman A1]

24. That is an important point, but not one that

would be a deal breaker. They could simply have alternating floors, different buildings or wings. It is not insurmountable.

[obamanut2012]

15. Ummm no, not rent free

They need to pay rent.

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. We could take that post office hotel from Trump.

[obamanut2012]

14. Then they can pay rent to the gov't

No one forced them to run for Congress.

Build dorms or live in a DC or NOVA hostel, rent an apt with some other pol. This is how all the people who live in DC, NOVA, and Maryland have to survive, people who make much less then them. With bad healthcare. No free gyms. Subsidized food And lots of other freebies.

Too bad, so sad.

[EffieBlack]

17. I agree with this

While I know it's not popular to sing the blues for Members of Congress - and far be it from me to launch any pity parties for them - many Members really are struggling to make this work financially.

Yes, they make more than the average person. But they must maintain two residences - while their budget can pay for their travel to and from their districts, it doesn't pay for their residence in DC, which is VERY expensive. And because they need to be near the Capitol, preferably within 15 minutes so they can get back quickly if a vote is called, they are pretty much stuck with living in one of the most expensive areas of the country.

This makes it hard for ordinary people to make it work and we lose many good people from Congress either because they do the math and decide they just can't afford to run or, once they're in, the struggle to manage financially is too much. Most good, solid people can make much more money without the hassle by staying in private life.

So, we're really making it harder for good, decent, hard-working people to serve and will eventually be left with only those who are independently wealthy OR people who are willing to make this sacrifice only because they can't get a job anywhere else.

[genxlib]

19. I cannot manufacture any outrage about this

If a congressperson wants to spend the night in their office, I don't care. The cost to the Government is low to the point of not even being worth calculating.

We have much bigger fish to fry with what they do in their waking hours.

[crazycatlady]

23. I agree with the dorms

But I'd 'adult' them by graduating the dorms to more of a hotel style room (private bedroom and bathroom) instead of the twin XL bed in a shared room with a communal bathroom down the hall.

With hotel room style accommodations, you wouldn't even need to separate the floors by sex as colleges do.

[Sherman A1]

25. Very good points

I am sure that a few hotel type accommodations could be worked out or maybe a mix of accommodations based on seniority or a lottery. The nuts and bolts should be easy to accomplish.

[Historic NY]

26. Maybe Hannity has some vacancies or perhaps Ben Carson has some apts. over at HUD.

[rurallib]

27. $14,416 per month and they can't "afford" $2,000 a month?

Oh right they have houses back home - do they have castles? Sorry, I ain't buying it.
Per Emma Gonzalez I call BS.
Many of these people (Paulie Ryan for instance) are fucking millionaires. They get tons of perks as congress critters already.

What is really galling is that these are the same fuckers who think that old people can live on $800. month social security or a family can survive on $500/ month on SNAP.

My congress member is probably the poorest SOB in the congress, but he doesn't do this shit. He has a modest home back here and makes it work. If he can do it Paulie fucking Ryan can do it.

And I agree with the dorm concept if it is really a problem.
I think that some cheap ass congress critters found yet one more way to screw the public and live rent free unlike anyone else in this country.

[BeyondGeography]

28. Taxes?

That's not their take-home pay. Probably closer to $10k/month. Still pretty good, but if half of that is going toward housing, you are indeed fucked.

The old rule used to be one weeks pay for rent and you can have a life. I think it's still a pretty good rule. If they have a spouse and he or she works, they can swing it, but if not...

[rurallib]

31. if the take home is $10,000 and housing eats up $5,000

that is still $5,000 to live on - much more than most folks. Plus many of these folks have "resources."

I have a hard time screwing up a lot of sympathy.

[JI7]

33. yup, i live in a high cost of living area

and every one in a while there will be articles of people making 6 figure or more incomes and struggling. MOST people make far less.

sending kids to public school would be one of the biggest ways of cutting costs. and they don't need like 3+ luxury cars of different sizes .

[crazycatlady]

30. This thread is a reminder

For those of you who have Amazon Prime, watch the series "Alpha House."

It's about 4 GOP senators living in a frat house type environment. It's hilarious.