Over the last few years, I’ve heard a lot of talk about multigenerational housing (MH). Many people in America don’t fully understand what multigenerational is, so let me give a quick explanation.
When 2 or more generations live in the same house, it’s called multigenerational. A typical situation would be a parent who is living with an adult child. Another would be an adult living with their older parent or maybe all three generations living together – grandparent, parent, and adult child.
Multigenerational housing in America:
1950 – 21%
1980 – 12%
Current – Compared to just 12% in 1980, the trend has been on a steady upward swing, with 20%, or 64 million Americans, living with two or more adult generations in a single household.
There are different reasons as to why this type of housing arrangement is becoming more popular. According to Pew Research, one reason is “The Asian and Hispanic populations overall are growing more rapidly than the white population, and those groups are more likely than whites to live in multigenerational family households.
Another reason given is after the housing recession in 2008, many families joined together under one roof to help support one another through a tough time.
Others feel that there is a better connection today between young adults and their parents, and living together isn’t a problem.
I’m in hopes that more custom builders and community developers begin to see multigenerational home plan designs as an asset to their business. My brand, The Ageless Home™, encourages universal inclusive design along with 1 story, 2 story and multigenerational home plans. I teamed up with LifeStage Home Designs as their home plans all start with universal design as the base. The consumer can then go through all the features in the Ageless Home™ booklet and choose what they want to make it as ageless as they see fit!
However, in any case, homes explicitly designed for a multigenerational living are still a small segment of the housing market. Far more common are families that have renovated their homes to suit aging parents or adult children.
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Enjoy the day! ~Valerie