Doubled Up : Shared Households and the Precarious Lives of Families

How sharing a home with extended family or friends serves as a crucial, but imperfect, private safety net for families with childrenMore than fifteen percent of US children-over eleven million-live in doubled-up households, sharing space with extended family or friends.These households are even more common among low-income families, families of color, and single-parent families, functioning as a private safety net for many in a country with extremely limited public support for families.Yet despite their prevalence, we know little about how shared households form and how they shape family life.Doubled Up is an in-depth look at the experiences of families with children living in doubled-up households. Drawing on extensive interviews with sixty parents living in doubled-up households, Hope Harvey examines what circumstances and motivations lead families to form doubled-up households, how living in shared households affects daily routines, and how families fare after these arrangements dis