The Millennial Communal Housing Trend: A Step Back to the Middle Ages?

Living in the Monterey Bay, just south of Silicon Valley and San Francisco, is arguably one of the best places to live on earth – as long as you don’t consider the ridiculous cost of housing.  I love having gorgeous views and being just minutes from the beaches and redwood forests.  But my husband Rob and I can afford to live in a huge house simply because we bought before the housing market skyrocketed.  For my kids today, it’s almost impossible to get into the housing market in our area.

Over the summer, I was surprised to hear that many young people couples are looking to buy homes with other couples.  By combining their cash, they can put down a nice sum for a deposit and their mortgages will be more reasonable to pay.  Many couples shared with me that buying a house with other couples would be less expensive than if each of them paid rent for studios or apartments in Silicon Valley or San Francisco.  If the Bay Area continues to be the Mecca that it has become, in a few years, these couples could sell their house and have enough capital to possibly buy their own homes.  Rob did that back in the 1970’s.  He bought a house with 2 other couples, and sold it a few years later.  Then, he and I bought a little house in Pleasure Point, and we kept upgrading until we bought the house we live in now in Santa Cruz County.

New millennial couples and even small families are finding that communal living creates a stable and supportive living environment.  By sharing cooking, cleaning, childcare, and eldercare, everyone benefits. It really does take a village to raise a child.  It can take off the strain of being the Jack of all Trades – something that families and couples today neither have the resources to support nor the expertise to handle on their own.  As our population continues to grow, this may be the wave of the future.

If you want to read more about communal living, read this article in The Atlantic, “The Hot New Millennial Housing Trend is a Repeat of the Middle Ages”