By Evan Horowitz GLOBE STAFF FEBRUARY 23, 2017
You can’t blame the economy — not anymore. Young adults continue to move back home with their parents, even though the United States has enjoyed seven straight years of economic growth, pushing the unemployment rate below 5 percent.
This was supposed to be a temporary phenomenon, a short-term rush for shelter set off by the financial crisis of 2007-2009. But it just keeps going. Every year, more and more 25-to-34-year-olds turn up in their parents’ houses, right through to 2016.
Why has living at home become so voguish among millennials? Blame high housing costs. Blame declining marriage rates. And, also, blame the parents.
Start with the housing costs, which have become a major impediment to independence. A recent analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that housing really is less affordable for today’s young adults than it was for their peers 20 years ago — a key reason they’ve been slower to move out.
Times change. Many of us grew up in multigenerational homes. It was a gift to be so close to our grandparents.
There is no shame in moving home. Some of the millennials are saving money. Smart move.
As long as the parents let them back in it is fine with me.
50 years ago I left my parents’ home at age 18. While I managed to get a college degree, I struggled financially and like many in the 1960’s I made my share of unwise lifestyle choices. Finally, in my late 20’s I moved back home so I could afford graduate school I saved money but also learned just how important my family was to me. Now I have my own grown children. They have not returned to the nest, but they know they are welcome. Nothing wrong with keeping families close.
We’re raising a bunch of dependent snowflakes… no surprise that they are staying home.