ABSTRACT
The form of the American suburban house has been changing. From former custom-crafted elite estates and mass-produced postwar homes to today’s McMansions, single-family homes in the United States have taken on different forms at different times to accommodate their many users, uses, and ideals. This chapter investigates how homebuilders have responded to Americans’ increasing rates of multigenerational living and the diversity of multigenerational households in the past several decades. While the number and proportion of families living in multigenerational families were on the decline throughout much of the twentieth century, rates have risen since 1990, principally among immigrants, minorities, baby boomers, and Millennials.
By analyzing real estate and homebuilding industry publications, developer data, and local, regional, and national newspaper articles, the chapter tracks multigenerational homebuilding trends across the U.S. since 1985. These show a growing number and diversity of multigenerational home developments, particularly after the Great Recession, that I argue represent a remarkable shift in the design of suburban, single-family homes. They also reveal particular hot spots of multigenerational home development in the Sunbelt South and West. In the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, which have served as an important testing ground for multigenerational homebuilding, new home data and interviews conducted with developers, real estate agents, and architects show the unique design qualities of these homes and why they have become popular among homebuyers and builders. However, the case study also reveals a host of planning, design, and policy challenges associated with these homes and raises questions about their contribution to building more socially diverse and sustainable suburban communities.
