Welcome to our Blog!

I want to start a movement!  Let me tell you why.  

Welcome to our multi-generational housing journey!  My name is Becky Kunz and I am a daughter, wife, mother, sister and now blogger. We hope you are inspired by our family's choice to make generational housing work by sharing the ups and downs of living with your parents again!

It is no mistake that my family had just moved across country and were preparing for our parents to join us across country when the pandemic hit the world in March of 2020. Once we were all finally together, masked and all, it hit me. Following my instincts and researching the demographic numbers was the right choice. I won't second guess my purpose again.

Years ago I moved to the Midwest for college where I met and married the boy next door, Jon. After we got married we moved closer to Jon's family in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. We raised our two children there but there came a time in my life that I needed to be closer to my side of the family. My own children did not really have many memories with my siblings or their families and we were all getting older.

But the real match that lit our move across country was the research project I did during grad school I finished in 2014. 

Jon & I had attended one of many retirement parties for one of the guys that worked at the manufacturing plant in Minneapolis that Jon still works for. I call them the salt of the earth guys   This guy had worked at this plant for nearly 50 years.  I said to Jon, 'how many people will they have to hire to fill that guys shoes? " 

I became intrigued with how we transfer knowledge from one generation to the next when the world had changed so drastically. Since the mid 1990's most US schools have pulled all industrialized trades out of High Schools in this country and we certainly are not promoting manufacturing as a viable career option to our youth. It became dreadfully apparent that not being able to manufacture what our country needs is a matter of national security. 

Fast forward to the Pandemic and the PPE shortage. We could not produce the very product we needed to save our lives. Not to mention the other countless items that were unavailable during this scary time in our worlds history. The lingering effects of the pandemic's logistics and supply chain nightmares are still being felt.

What I came to learn about during all my research 10 years ago, was that the world was just heading into a demographics nightmare. We would experience a period of about 15-20 years where there would not be enough skilled workers to support our most vulnerable populations. Those over the age of 65 and those under the age of 5. Demographers were calling it the "Human Capital Crisis".  Meaning that there would be a time where we would not have enough people to employ in many sectors of the economy. I wanted to take drastic steps to curtail whatever was coming our way. 

The slide below was from my final presentation in grad school.

Top three professions I paid particular attention to: Healthcare, (specifically Nursing). Law Enforcement and Teaching.  

You might ask why?

Because they are our country's safety net for the most vulnerable and when that goes, God help us all.

Fast forward to today, Housing markets are through the roof, and yet unemployment is at an all time low. Inflation has risen to nearly record highs. 

• The rate of homelessness is soaring and the elderly make up a huge portion of those recently finding themselves houseless. 
• Peace officers have left law enforcement in droves.  
• Teachers are leaving the profession at alarming rates.
• And Nurses have one of the highest burnout rates than any other industry. 

When you think about what people have gone through over the last 3 years it is pretty surreal. 

Now that the pandemic is officially over in our country, rent moratoriums are ending leaving many folks facing eviction. In Minneapolis/St. Paul, eviction rates rose 106% in March, 55% in April and 63% in May. Nashville was 35% higher and Phoenix 33% higher in May; Rhode Island was up 32% in May. 

This is why we acted. 

We wanted to revive what families and generations of people have done for thousands of years.  We commune in the same space so we can care for one another.  If the pandemic taught us anything it is the power of human connection and touch is necessary for people to thrive.  

If you have folks in your family who are over 65 and struggling to survive on a fixed income, please check in on them and consider multi-generational housing if you can.  Or if you are an older person who has a home to share, consider opening it up to younger roommates or family members. 

Thank you so much for reading! 

We hope you become inspired and a subscriber to our Cheaper Than Long-Term Care blog posts.

Becky