Couple seeking housing advice — thinking ahead, getting creative?

Hello all,

I am a first-year graduate student currently living in Brookline with two roommates (I pay $1000/mo for the smallest room, they pay $1200/mo; + about $100/mo utilities). My lease goes through this coming Sept. My partner is moving here (flexible, sometime between June-Aug), and we want to live together. I’ll still be a student working a billion different part-time jobs, he will be here on a tight but liveable fellowship stipend.

I understand that this may sound naive, but we have been really discouraged looking for a studio, one-bed, or two-bed apt to share for under $2200. The goal would be to save money by sharing a space :(

We are trying to think outside the box. Does anyone have tips for finding spaces that are couple-friendly? We would be happy to share a room in a unit with roommates, however, in my current apartment this would be impossible because they won’t provide more than one set of keys per room.

We just want a decent place where we can really feel like we LIVE there. Ideally, that would be our own place, but we are very open to sharing space. In my current apartment, I feel like a houseguest… all of my things are confined to my tiny room, as my roommates had lived there for two years before I moved in… it’s not a great situation.

I know this is early to be asking, but we want to be exploring any/every option.

Thanks in advance.