DURANG, Colo.—Susan and Don Hakanson have always had an extra person or two living in their home.
So when the situation arose to live in a house with four others, including their 26-year-old daughter and her boyfriend, they jumped right in. The six roommates, along with two other “floaters,” rent a 7,000-square-foot house on East Third Avenue.
Susan Hakanson said the living situation is heads and shoulders above what any of them could afford separately.
“It works for us personally, it works for us socially, it works for us economically,” she said.
Since the economic downturn, more people have chosen living arrangements similar to the Hakansons. The U.S. Census Bureau describes it as “doubling up,” defined as “households that include an adult that is not the householder, spouse or cohabitating partner of the householder.”
Between 2008 and 2010, the number of people living in doubled-up households increased by 7 percent, according to a 2011 working report prepared by Census Bureau staff. Digging deeper, statistics show much of the increase is from more adults moving in with their parents. Since 2007, there has been a 26 percent increase in 25- to 34-year-olds living with their parents, and between 2008 and 2010, there was a 12 percent increase in multifamily households.
While the situation comes with a unique set of challenges, local residents who have doubled up said the economic benefits are clear.
With the job market for young people at its most dismal in decades and unemployment stubbornly high, combining households with others “is a time-honored strategy for stretching thin resources,” the Census report’s authors wrote.
In Durango, high housing and rental costs are additional incentives to double up.
“Housing prices are exorbitant in relation to the pay people are getting,” said Savannah Failing, who works in emergency homeless prevention at Housing Solutions for the Southwest. The appeal of Durango’s location drives up prices, while the tourism economy fuels lower-wage service jobs.
“I wonder how people can even afford to stay in what is considered affordable housing,” Failing said.
Before the house on East Third Avenue became available, Susan Hakanson and her husband were looking at the same types of rentals their children were looking at, she said.
Though both have jobs, Don Hakanson is in the construction industry and has had to accept lower pay to remain employed through the recession. Paying $1,200 to $1,500 a month in rent was hard for the couple to swallow, Susan Hakanson said.
For Nicole Pearson, the situation was similar. Pearson had been living in low-income housing for two years when she made a goal for herself to move out and find another place to live. But the rentals in her price range were “old and disgusting,” she said. At the same time, her mother also was looking for a place to live, and after discussing it, the two decided to rent together.
Not having her own space is hard, but living with her mother allows Pearson to live where she feels good raising her two children, she said.
“Of course, I’m not wanting to live with my mom—what 27-year-old does that has kids?” she said. “But we support each other and help each other out a lot. It’s a choice I made that has made my quality of life better for the time being.”
The process of young adults leaving their family to create a new household is traditionally a white, middle-class American phenomenon. But in today’s economic situation, it’s a reality for fewer and fewer people, said Keri Brandt, a professor of sociology and gender and women’s studies at Fort Lewis College.
“Now especially, young people are having to rethink their vision of their future,” Brandt said. “Many are returning home or finding it difficult to build their own independent living situation.”
It’s a humbling experience, when people who are so used to making it on their own have to come back home, Failing said.
“It’s a difficult situation, but a lot of people have had to resort to that, especially in this area because what other options are there?” she asked.
From a financial standpoint, that trend could end up being problematic for the older generation if young adults depend on their parents’ resources for longer, said Alexandra Hall, chief economist with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
“Over the past few years, there’s been a concern about baby boomers having enough to retire and an acknowledgement that they really don’t,” Hall said.
Housing Solutions’ Failing said she has seen several clients move back in with their parents in tough times.
But in some cases, the living arrangement only worsened the situation for the entire family because the parents still have a mortgage to pay but are supporting another person.
However, if everyone can contribute, sharing a home also can have tremendous economic benefits, said Janine Fitzgerald, an associate professor of sociology and human services at FLC. Having an extra adult at home also can resolve social problems such as those associated with children growing up in day care.
Pearson said her mother picks up her son from the bus after school, and mother and daughter help each other juggle rent and utility payments.
Yet Pearson also acknowledged that the living situation has led to clashes in parenting values.
“It’s been hard the times when I have to lay down the line with my mom,” she said. “It’s something I struggle with because it undermines my discipline.”
Part of the reason why it is stressful for adults to live with their parents is because our culture doesn’t teach or emphasize how to be an adult in your parents’ space, Fitzgerald said. On the other hand, “we get more practice negotiating through some of the hard stuff,” she said.
On a broader scale, the doubling-up trend may help redefine the American notion of independence, Brandt said.
“Our notion of ourselves as Americans is, first and foremost, that we are independent and individual. But the truth is, in order for society to function, we need each other,” she said. “It may be a good thing to redefine our notion of independence and see dependence as necessary for a healthy functioning society. It’s a reminder of how much we need each other to just live.”
