越來(lái)越多的千禧一代搬去和他們的父母同住

越來(lái)越多的千禧一代搬去和他們的父母同住

I love this photo: Mom and dad, two kids and a new puppy, grandma embroidering away in front of the fireplace. If you see it, you know I'm writing about multi-generational families. When it was taken, living with mom and dad was not all that common in the United States, but this is changing quickly. According to Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan of Fast Company, more and more Americans are living with more generations under one roof.

我喜歡這張照片:媽媽和爸爸，兩個(gè)孩子和一只小狗，奶奶在壁爐前繡花。如果你看到了，你就知道我寫(xiě)的是多代同堂的家庭。拍攝時(shí)，和爸爸媽媽住在一起在美國(guó)并不常見(jiàn)，但這種情況正在迅速改變。據(jù)Fast Company的凱爾西•坎貝爾-多拉格漢(Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan)稱，越來(lái)越多的美國(guó)人與更多的世代生活在同一個(gè)屋檐下。

Families don't look like this anymore. (Photo: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Actually, I'm not so sure researchers are puzzled or that the reasons are all that complex.

事實(shí)上，我不確定研究人員是否感到困惑，也不確定原因是否如此復(fù)雜。

Graphic: Pew Research Center

We've covered this issue before on MNN, writing about the "club sandwich generation" — the baby boomers who are coping with elderly parents, kids and grandkids. I predicted then that we were going to need a lot of triplexes.

我們之前在MNN上報(bào)道過(guò)這個(gè)問(wèn)題，寫(xiě)的是“三明治俱樂(lè)部一代”——嬰兒潮時(shí)期出生的人，他們要應(yīng)付年邁的父母、孩子和孫輩。我當(dāng)時(shí)預(yù)測(cè)我們會(huì)需要很多三次神經(jīng)叢。

How many babies were born each year? (Photo: U.S. Census)

It's a few years later, and we have a lot more sandwiches and not a few clubs. The issue basically comes down to two prime movers: demographics and economics. Note the two peaks in the graphic above: the high peak of the baby boomers, and then the build-up of the millennials, who now outnumber their parents.

幾年后，我們有了更多的三明治，而不是俱樂(lè)部。這個(gè)問(wèn)題基本上可以歸結(jié)為兩個(gè)主要推動(dòng)者:人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)和經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)。請(qǐng)注意上圖中的兩個(gè)高峰:嬰兒潮一代的高峰，以及千禧一代的增長(zhǎng)，現(xiàn)在千禧一代的人數(shù)已經(jīng)超過(guò)了他們的父母。

Many of these aging baby boomers have been or are dealing with their own aging parents. It's a struggle when they are far away. My wife's mother was only an hour away, but when you get to the point that you're doing that trip twice a day, it becomes very hard. Many of those baby boomers are thinking about what's going to happen to them in a few years; most can't afford retirement homes. Suddenly, the idea of having the kids close by starts to look very attractive.

這些上了年紀(jì)的嬰兒潮一代中，有許多人已經(jīng)或正在與自己上了年紀(jì)的父母打交道。當(dāng)他們住得遠(yuǎn)時(shí)，這是一場(chǎng)斗爭(zhēng)。我岳母離這里只有一個(gè)小時(shí)的路程，但當(dāng)你達(dá)到每天兩次這樣的程度時(shí)，就會(huì)變得非常困難。這些嬰兒潮一代中的許多人都在想幾年后他們會(huì)發(fā)生什么;大多數(shù)人住不起養(yǎng)老院。突然間，有孩子在身邊的想法開(kāi)始變得非常有吸引力。

Row houses in Philadelphia: some are singles, some are duplexes. (Photo: Lloyd Alter)

Campbell-Dollaghan notes that some builders are selling homes specifically for this multigenerational market, notably Lennar with its NexGen homes. We pretty much dismissed these in an earlier post noting that the houses were in the middle of nowhere, totally car-dependent, took up way too much space and resources, and were not, in fact, flexible at all. But we have to change the way we think about house planning, and return to a much more flexible form.

坎貝爾-多拉格漢指出，一些建筑商專門(mén)針對(duì)這一多代同堂的市場(chǎng)銷(xiāo)售房屋，尤其是Lennar及其N(xiāo)exGen homes。在之前的一篇文章中，我們基本上忽略了這些問(wèn)題，指出這些房子位于偏僻的地方，完全依賴汽車(chē)，占用了太多的空間和資源，而且實(shí)際上一點(diǎn)也不靈活。但是我們必須改變我們對(duì)房屋規(guī)劃的想法，回到一個(gè)更加靈活的形式。

A 'Toronto special' from the '60s: It's a single, double or triple depending on how you use it. (Photo: Lloyd Alter)

This shouldn't be a matter of choice, but should be a matter of regulation by zoning bylaws and building codes. Design flexibility, greater density and multifamily zoning should be built into the fabric of our housing.

這不應(yīng)該是一個(gè)選擇的問(wèn)題，而應(yīng)該是一個(gè)分區(qū)細(xì)則和建筑規(guī)范的問(wèn)題。設(shè)計(jì)的靈活性，更大的密度和多家庭分區(qū)應(yīng)該內(nèi)置在我們的住房結(jié)構(gòu)。

We have 70 million aging baby boomers, most of whom own houses, and we have 75 million millennials, most of whom will never be able to afford houses. There are 33.6 million empty bedrooms in the U.S., (177,734 in New York City alone) yet we have millions of millennials who can't find affordable housing. Some of these bedrooms are in houses that could be converted and adapted; others could simply be shared.

我們有7000萬(wàn)上了年紀(jì)的嬰兒潮一代，他們中的大多數(shù)人都有房子，我們有7500萬(wàn)千禧一代，他們中的大多數(shù)人永遠(yuǎn)買(mǎi)不起房子。美國(guó)有3360萬(wàn)間空臥室然而，我們有數(shù)百萬(wàn)千禧一代找不到負(fù)擔(dān)得起的住房。其中一些臥室位于可以改造和適應(yīng)的房子里;其他的可以簡(jiǎn)單地分享。

As the baby boomers age and the millennials have their 1.7 kids that they can't afford day care for, it's likely that a whole lot of them are going to be moving in with mom. We should make it easier to do so.

隨著嬰兒潮時(shí)期出生的人年齡增長(zhǎng)，千禧一代有1.7個(gè)孩子，他們負(fù)擔(dān)不起日托，很可能他們中的很多人都要搬去和媽媽一起住。我們應(yīng)該使這一點(diǎn)更容易實(shí)現(xiàn)。