Baby boomers are taking a page from "The Golden Girls" playbook to fight loneliness and inflation by becoming "Boommates," homeowners who rent out empty rooms to non-relatives needing a place to stay. Data from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies indicates approximately 913,000 older adults are living with non-relatives, either by opening up their own homes to others or by living with someone else.
Meanwhile, Redfin data show that baby boomers are "twice as likely" to own large homes than millennials, owning about 28% of large U.S. homes thanks to better affordability in their younger years and a reluctance to let go of these properties. The Harvard study also indicated that the number of "cost-burdened" older Americans has reached an "all-time high" when accounting for expenses like taxes, insurance, utilities and housing.
At the same time, mental health experts in recent years have warned about the dangers of a sweeping loneliness epidemic, something empty nesters often experience after their adult children start their own families and relocate. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned last year that the epidemic could be just as deadly, if not deadlier, than the obesity, smoking and addiction epidemics. "We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience.