More Americans are buying homes to fit multiple generations: 'It answered a lot of prayers'

[Zorro]

Multigenerational living is expected to get even more popular as baby boomers age

Clairisa Mattig-Smith thought she and her kids would have to move out of California due to the high cost of living. Instead, she and her mom pooled their money and bought a newly built “multigenerational home” together in Hesperia, Calif.

The 2,900-square-foot home boasts six bedrooms, three bathrooms and a big center-island kitchen to cook and host family gatherings. Together, they paid $647,000 for the house. They split the monthly mortgage payments, and Mattig-Smith pays the utilities and the bulk of the food expenses. Three of Mattig-Smith’s five children live at home.

Mattig-Smith, 43, ruled out a home with a casita or accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, in the backyard for her mom’s living space, because she wanted the family to intermingle more naturally together and not be in separate buildings. In one large house, they have their separate bedrooms but share common spaces.

“It keeps us together and things flow more naturally,” Mattig-Smith said. “There’s generational gaps there when it comes to music or watching stuff. My mom and I do things differently, but we make adjustments. We’ve all been trained by my mom to watch every dish as soon as we’re done using it. She hates dishes in the sink.”

Mattig-Smith and her family are part of a growing trend of multigenerational households, as people look to save money and offer caregiving help. The number of households with at least two generations of adults over age 24 or grandparents living with younger grandchildren quadrupled between 1971 to 2021 to nearly 60 million, according to the Pew Research Center. Financial issues drove 40% of respondents to seek multigenerational homes, while 33% cited caregiving needs, according to Pew.

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