Thanks to the housing crisis, Australians are learning to live together in ways previously associated with students and twentysomethings. Can we accept it as the new norm?
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When Phil moved in with his grandfather and parents in 2018, he was a rarity in the neighbourhood. An adult with a full-time job, he was one of just two children on the Logan, Queensland block to have returned home. Six years on and now 30, he guesses he’s one of about 10 adult children back living with their parents.
“It’s not a big house,” he says of four adults, plus a cat and a dog, sharing. “Because my grandpa has a schedule – and God help me if anyone interferes with that schedule – we just work around him.” They split bills and groceries and, if money is tight – as it was when he needed four new car tyres – his parents help.