More Americans Shacking Up With Family

The impact of the recession is being felt around kitchen tables in America as multiple generations have clustered in homes together after being foreclosed on.

1 minute read

December 31, 2010, 9:00 AM PST

By Tim Halbur


New Census data reveals that the number of multi-family homes has increased 11.7 percent since 2008, today totalling 13.2 percent of all households.

Michael Luo reports: "Even that figure, however, is undoubtedly an undercount of the phenomenon social service providers call 'doubling up,' which has ballooned in the recession and anemic recovery. The census' multifamily household figures, for example, do not include such situations as when a single brother and a single sister move in together, or when a childless adult goes to live with his or her parents.

For many, the arrangements represent their last best option, the only way to stave off entering a homeless shelter or sleeping in their cars."

Thursday, December 30, 2010 in The International Herald Tribune

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