Arguments for living with parents:

1. Living with your parents is definitely advantageous financially.

The reason children are staying at home is overwhelmingly economic. In the USA unemployment for 25-34 yr olds is still 8.2% nationally according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, better than the 9.7% last year, but high none the less. As the 24-34 year old age group entered the workforce, the real estate crisis hit and subsequently, industries shrank, causing jobs to disappear. The economy has been tough on parents too, and Baby Boomers were forced to delay retirement.  They either don’t have the assets to retire or they just don’t feel comfortable pulling the trigger on retirement with so much uncertainty.  

The solution isn’t for parents to drain their finances to support their adult kids but to embrace a different model altogether to adapt to the changing economic climate.  Instead of fostering total independence, maybe what families need today is more “interdependence.” Families all over the world do that very thing in their living arrangements — living in multi-generational homes. Done strategically, even for a short time, living in multi-generational homes can benefit the whole family. 

2. Renting a flat is too expensive.

The collapse of the youth labour market during the 1980s has been followed by a continuation of high unemployment rates despite periods of relative economic boom. The lack of jobs is being compounded by changes in the housing market. Even those in work cannot afford to move out of the family home as first-time buyers now face skyrocketing house prices that are, on average, five times average incomes, compared with a multiple of three times 20 years ago. A number of parents believe it is ridiculous to pay all that money for rent to have to keep/support one’s own modest household.

What is more, renting is not the only item of expenses. When moving in on one’s own, one should also pay for utilities, food, furniture, other miscellaneous stuff and have an emergency fund as well.

Thus, staying at home and saving up seems to be way more economically reasonable.

3. Staying at home is like having a butler, a maid and a really rich uncle all rolled into one.

All parents of children have served as driver, cook, housekeeper, laundry worker, and maid to list just a few of the responsibilities. It takes a lot of pressure off their shoulders because Mom and Dad are there to cook and clean and pay the bills.

4. Home provides support, security and the company of their parents.

It's not just economics that forces grown children stay or come back, but emotional insecurity. They find it "comforting" to stay at home or "to double up with their parents when times are tough."

And most are in no hurry to move on. Surveys suggest that more than three-quarters of young adults who live at home are satisfied with the arrangement and say they have good relationships with their parents.

One-quarter say they get along better with their parents than they did when they lived apart.

And women more than men tend to add comments about love and caring in their family.

5. Embracing adult children at home it as a good opportunity to learn new ways to relate to your young person as an adult.

One gets the best of both worlds when lives at home: being adult and living an independent life, but still coming home to the warmth of the family house.

The parents are not parents anymore, more like friends or roommates even. They like having children at home as much as children like being there. Parents do assign household duties to the children and love having assistance only a shout away. Many admit that having at home two or three generations has made their family closer and allowed to make success of the arrangement.

The latest trend in home building is to provide special design features that include separate and communal living areas for families or building “casitas” (small houses) or “mother-in-law” quarters on the property.  These designs give the best of both worlds for families, giving them the personal space and places for connection that make it possible for this kind of living arrangement to work.