From Insider:

Jonathan Coppage, a visiting senior fellow at the R Street Institute researching urbanism and civil society, told INSIDER that multigenerational households are becoming more popular today for the simple reason that they make sense.

“Families have always relied upon each other, and we live in a time when much of our household wealth is tied up in our houses,” he said. “From a purely financial perspective, then, one of the easiest ways for one generation of a family to support another is to allow them to share in the family home.”

People “shouldn’t think twice” about adults living with their parents.

For Coppage, the “failure to launch” stigma should not apply to all situations where an adult child is living with his or her parents.

“Few would see an able-bodied young adult living in total dependence as an example of human flourishing,” he said. “But when young adults are exercising fiscal prudence by building up their savings or paying down their loans, and their parents are assisting by sharing their existing housing wealth, nobody should think twice about it.”

He added that although it makes sense for children and parents to live more independent lives upon adulthood, that doesn’t necessarily mean they need to live in separate cities or even separate properties.

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Grandchildren can learn from their grandparents, and grow up with a richer worldview and greater historical perspective as a result,” Coppage said.

Additionally, young adults can help out around the house while learning to navigate being an adult in the working world, Coppage said.

“Families are treasuries containing great wisdom by their very nature, and living under one roof allows the whole family to benefit from that accumulated wisdom,” he said.

These living circumstances can also do good for a community that would otherwise see these young people moving away.

“So many towns and communities across the country see their young people grow up and move away, draining the place’s economic and social vitality,” Coppage said. But allowing young adults to establish a place in their native community can keep the place itself healthy and vibrant as well.

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To make such a situation work, experts agree that ground rules need to be established.

“Parents and children should agree on basic rules of the road, and distinguish this situation from when the children were minors,” Coppage said. “It is the parents’ house then they have attendant rights, but they shouldn’t insist on overseeing everything in their child’s life as much as they did before, because that will be exhausting and ultimately futile.”

Giving each other adequate space is also imperative.

“Creating separate apartments within the family home can allow that shared housing wealth and continued familial closeness while also enabling more independent lives and safe places of retreat when nerves start fraying,” Coppage said. This can also allow parents to host their own friends and young adults to have more privacy in their romantic lives, he added.

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