Yesterday The Washington Post reported on a growing phenomenon: more single, separated, or divorced mothers are joining forces and moving in with each other.

“When Kimberly Taylor separated from her husband three years ago, she and her daughter, Amelia, stayed in the marital home — a four-bedroom house in Woodbridge, Va., with a finished basement and a huge back yard. It was a lot of square-footage and a financial strain. But rather than downsize, Taylor decided to fill it with someone she could relate to: another single mom.

She placed an ad in Craigslist — ‘Mother w/awesome child seeks same’ — and was inundated with responses.

After requesting 10 references per applicant, and spending time with them, she settled on another separated mother with a young son. Living together, the moms and kids bonded. For them, putting together the halves of two broken homes created a whole home.”

According to WaPo, the number of single parents has rapidly expanded in the last 40 years and now over 10 million parents identify as single mothers or fathers.

Naturally, the push for single parent housemates is in part financially motivated, for a renter bringing home a second paycheck certainly helps with the bills. But as the article notes, the main reason is often the need for companionship, help, and stability – in other words, those things that ideally should be present in a marriage.

Image Credit: The Jordan Collective