Loneliness Is on the Rise. Are Closer Neighbors a Solution?

Loneliness is on the rise, and it may be as harmful to health as cigarette smoking, medical experts say. Now some Americans are embracing a collaborative living arrangement called cohousing as a solution.

Even before the Covid pandemic shut down schools, closed businesses and introduced the idea of social distancing, medical experts were seeing an alarming increase in Americans struggling with isolation. The U.S. surgeon general has called this trend an epidemic of loneliness, as harmful to health as smoking cigarettes.

To counteract isolation, some Americans are turning to a living arrangement known as cohousing. The idea originated in Denmark in the 1960s, describing communities of privately owned, single-family houses built around shared outdoor spaces, bringing neighbors closer together.