'It's a co-parenting mode, it's a co-economy mode, and it's a really great friendship and support model'
At almost 50 years old, Marika Pfefferkorn was doing something she never thought she'd do: Sharing a bathroom with a 17-year-old boy.
That's because she now lives with a good friend and her friend's two children. It's an arrangement that struck up in 2016 after her friend got divorced.
Her friend owns the four-bedroom, three-bath townhouse in Minnesota. Pfefferkorn pays rent, in addition to taking care of utilities, acquiring paper foods, gardening, and helping around the house. They are currently in a discussion about where she might even outright own half of the home.
Marika Pfefferkorn | Courtesy of Marika Pfefferkorn
It's been "amazing and challenging," Pfefferkorn said. Especially when both kids grew up together, and one brought a grandchild into the home. Pfefferkorn has been able to build up her savings and both women have benefited financially from the model.
She's not the only one rethinking the norms of home ownership and community. With home prices still so high, Americans are more single than ever, and an increasing share of people are considering moving in with their friends. A trend that has been on the rise since the 2010s. It may be accentuated by the pandemic era of isolation and rising prices.
Soaring mortgages also contribute to the trend. As Federal Reserve attempts to bring the economy into equilibrium, several rate hikes have helped to push housing affordability to a three-decade low.
If people can get out of the individualistic mindset, they can see the benefits of working together and co-inhabiting in shared spaces. It's beneficial for mental health and good for the earth.
It is about affordability in an economy that has shut many young people out of their traditional dreams of buying a house, paying off a student loan, and securing generational wealth. It's also pushback on the isolationist norms that have shaped the nuclear family in America.
Society isolates non-traditional relationships, especially members of the Black and LGBT communities. Investing in something together is one way to push back on that.
“Success looks like me having a savings account, retirement, being able to travel, and being in a household where I feel safe and loved”
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