The joke going around my weird, sad corner of the Internet is that the rise in polyamory in the public eye isn’t due to ‘moral decline’, it’s all about housing costs.
And I get it.
The more I read about cost of homes, cost of health insurance, cost of produce, and even cost of entertainment skyrocketing, the more being a ‘sister-wife’ starts to make sense. But rather than trying to coordinate a 5-way wedding, more people my age are going totally radical and buying houses with totally non-romantic partners.
That’s right, according to Fortune, us napkin-killing millennials are so fed up with competing with corporate purchasers for spit-takingly high prices on less ideal locations, less space, and lower quality building materials that we’re going all-in with friends to full on purchase places together.
It’s a big step up from being roommates—what with everyone’s name on a mortgage rather than a lease—but ultimately many of the challenges are the same. Of course the immediate thought of anyone who already has/can afford a house solo will be ‘Well how will these hippies figure out who benefits most from this asset?’.
The answer is certainly different for everyone, but the best answer is ‘No matter what, this is a better problem to have than “where the hell do I live” ‘.
And as more people accept that the expensive, potentially isolating structure of the suburbian nuclear family at the 20s and 30s stage of their lives is just plain out of reach, you’re going to hear that answer much more. Among a group of younger people who are seeing their degrees reach shorter and layoffs loom larger, housing is viewed as a necessity, not an investment.
So get used to ‘Golden Girls’ style groups of like-minded individuals in one owned home in your neighborhood. It’s going to keep happening. Maybe now is the time to lock down street parking etiquette.
Thank you for being a co-owner.
