Full House: More Families Shackin' Up

Amid vanishing home equity, rising unemployment, and an all-around sour economy, homelessness may seem more imminent for some than ever before. While we've seen dramatic increases in homelessness in the past year, the problem could be much worse if not for our nation's built in safety nets. In other words, family.

Indeed, households being evicted from their apartments or losing their home to foreclosure are moving in with family members rather than winding up on the streets. In homelessness lingo, this is known as being "doubled up," although, those who are doubled up are not technically homeless, according to the federal definition (although Congress may be voting to expand HUD's definition in the near future... stay tuned).

Here are the details from USA Today:

More families are living with relatives, based on the most recent statistics available. Nearly 3.5 million brothers or sisters are living in a sibling's house, according to 2007 Census Data, up from 3 million in 2000. And 3.6 million parents live with their adult children, up from 2.3 million. About 6.7 million householders live with other relatives, such as aunts or cousins, compared with 4.8 million in 2000. That year, the housing market was beginning its boom stretch, which lasted until late 2005.

Some demographic groups are feeling the effects more than others, including younger first-time home buyers who purchased during the housing boom and older Americans hit by job losses and foreclosures who have less time to recover their financial footing.

The article also details two groups that are being especially hard hit by the housing crisis:

Seniors. Older Americans who are losing their homes often lack the financial resources to buy another property. At the same time, adult children who had been helping pay for assisted living or other living arrangements for elderly parents are opting to bring their parents into their own homes because they can no longer afford the costs.

Young adults. Younger buyers made up a large share of those who bought property during the housing boom. About 40% of home buyers in 2004-05 were first-time buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Although it's unclear just how many people are avoiding spending nights on the streets, in cars, or in shelter by doubling up with a family member, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) estimates that the number is compelling. In 2007, when Congress was first considering expanding the federal definition of homelessness, NAEH published a report estimating that including "doubled up" households in HUD's homeless definition would increase the current homeless population (744,313 on any given night) by 3.8 million.

That's significant. Very significant.

There's something to be said for families, otherwise known as our built-in safety nets. In these uncertain times, they seem to be the last line of defense in preventing homelessness for millions.

For more great coverage of debate surrounding the federal definition of homelessness and doubled up households, I highly recommend checking out this post by Leigh, Change.org's poverty blogger.