New Domesticities, New Realities

Abstract

Domestic arrangements are changing accordingly, with seniors moving in with their adult children or their siblings or unrelated caregivers. While homeownership for the population as a whole has held steady at about 65 percent for many decades, only about 33 percent of Millennials owned their own homes in 2017. The rise of the sharing economy in the past ten years has disrupted our relationship to cars, apartments, even jobs. Inter-generational, non-family, non-traditional, and multi-cultural are all housing options readily available online. While the COVID-19 pandemic has turned social distancing into a new habit, it’s unclear if it will change long-term attitudes to sharing rides, living arrangements, and other such things. As society becomes more fluid in terms of its definitions of “household” and “family, " new forms of housing will continue to evolve. Some of these models will focus on particular needs-such as micro-dwellings for young professionals without a lot of money to spend on rent. © 2022 Taylor & Francis.