Sharing meals, household chores and lives is becoming more commonplace for everyone from young adults to senior citizens.

During the 1960s, this type of living arrangement was referred to as a commune and was embraced by hippies and free spirits on more of a whim. Today, it is known as collective or cohousing and those who are opting for these shared living arrangements are doing it more out of financial necessity or as a way to follow their social beliefs.

Hannah Reischl, 22, said her first collective housing experience happened in Kalamazoo while she was a student at Kalamazoo College. In 2010, she met someone who was involved with the Kalamazoo Collective Housing, which owns a home — the Fletcher Collective — on Walnut Street where she rented a room and lived with nine other residents.

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