Love can be fleeting, but the declining housing market may last for years. They say love will keep us together, but there's nothing like a bad economy to seal the deal and draw families in under the same roof. It isn't that much different from when I grew up in South Philadelphia. You got married, bought a car and a bedroom set with what was left of your wedding money, moved back in your old bedroom on the third floor of you parent's row house until you and your spouse could save enough money to rent or buy a place.
We are in a bad economy, one that might not turn around for years. Foreclosures have gone up, property values have gone down, and people are getting cut back on hours or losing their jobs altogether. These are circumstances that are making an impact on family dynamics across the board. Some relatives who may have never considered living together are huddling under the same roof, sharing the Christmas Tree eating microwave popcorn while they watch Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" on the big-screen. They pitch in together to save body and soul from homelessness and destitution.
Siblings are moving in together to share rent or mortgage payments. Kids who have left home are circling back like homing pidgins to stick out the hard times with mom and dad until the smoke clears.
In many cases people who lose their homes have no place to go. If you are living paycheck to paycheck and things go from bad to worse you are probably going to look for a port in the storm. Sometimes there aren't that many ports besides that door that leads you back to your family's home, so you may very well wind up living with your brother and sister or your mom and dad.
Foreclosure filings surpassed 3 million in 2008, according to a recent report by RealtyTrac. The report also shows that one in 54 homes received at least one foreclosure filing during the year. That's not a good national average.
Nearly 3.5 million brothers or sisters are living together according to 2007 Census Data, that's 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.
It's questionable wheter all this cuddling is good or a bad? It sure has to be better than being homeless and destitute. On the other hand people are surely being challenged by age differences, lifestyle differences, and cultural gap differences - "Turn that goddamn Rap Music down Junior or I'll kill you."
When people are forced to retreat from their lives and move down the ladder of life's successes there is normally a loss of self worth and self esteem - it's just human nature to feel an ego crunch. It gets real ugly when there isn't enough money to go around and folks start fighting over crumbs at the dinner table - crumbs that never mattered before.
This togetherness thing may not sound like its all fun and games but I wouldn't be the one to put it down, not for a minute. In the end with all the problems inherent from living in close quarters won't seem like much if it brings families closer together. Family members often go through life never knowing who their loved ones really are. Now there's an opportunity to find out. People should make the best of it. I only wish I had a place to run for shelter should times get bad for me. Unfortunately most of my family has passed away or gone crazy.
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