Doubling Up and Moving Down: Residential Change and the Great Recession

J. Michael Collins, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Timothy M. Smeeding, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Great Recession was a combination of three different recessions: a financial recession, a housing recession, and an employment recession. Each had a noticeable impact on household change. In this paper we look at two well-discussed but not well-understood or well-integrated types of household moves: the process of “doubling up,” wherein an individual or family moves in with another unit forming a multi-adult unit, and the process of “moving down,” wherein the loss of a job or other factors precipitate foreclosure or eviction, which is followed by a move from ownership to renting, or to a rent-free situation. We use the 2008 SIPP panels for the first ten waves (fall of 2008 through the end of 2011) to assess both types of types of changes, the demographics of who moves or is moved in with, and the intersection and differences between each type of move.