Faced with skyrocketing rents and the exploding cost of living, Guillaume Coovi-Sirois, a 29-year-old chiropractor, made a choice against the grain: to return to live with his parents after his studies. A decision that allowed him to become co-owner of a clinic in Gatineau.
The housing crisis is pushing more and more young professionals to make unusual choices. Guillaume Coovi-Sirois fully assumes his responsibility. “I find that it’s more and more normal [de retourner vivre chez ses parents]because it definitely saved me thousands of dollars. It was the move intelligent and wise to do,” says the man who returned to the family nest after five years of study.
For the young professional, the equation was simple. “Take off the rent over two or three years, take all that money and invest it in a business. This is what I do to make my business fluctuate. It allows me to get through the more difficult years and get going,” says the man from Aylmer, who is today co-owner of ABC Clinique Santé in Gatineau.
Photo Amanda Moisan QMI Agency
Although he plans to move next summer, alone or with friends, Guillaume recognizes the challenges of this choice.
“Leaving, having a little freedom, then returning to your parents’ house still remains a challenge, but we get along really well. It’s to see if you are ready to temporarily reduce your level of autonomy to obtain benefits,” adds the young doctor, who graduated in 2021.
Difficult access to property
Faced with soaring real estate prices, the young chiropractor remains cautious. “Access to property is becoming more and more difficult, even more so when you are alone,” he recalls.
His parents also share his analysis of the current real estate market. “House prices when we finished college were reasonable. There, the prices make no sense. It’s really sad for all the young people,” says his mother, Hélène Sirois.
Photo Amanda Moisan QMI Agency
Young boomerangs
This tendency to return to the family nest is part of a broader social phenomenon, according to sociologist Jacques Hamel, who argues that young people are no longer ashamed of making this choice. They are called “boomerangs”: adults, often in their twenties or even thirties, who leave the family home for a few months or a few years and then return.
“Young people today, compared to the young people I interviewed around twenty years ago, are less and less ashamed of living with their parents because they will argue that life is expensive. Youth is getting longer, there is no longer a standard as to what age we should leave the family nest,” says Mr. Hamel.
Courtesy photo
The professor at the University of Montreal specifies that these young people remain autonomous. “They are not the responsibility of their parents,” he maintains.
“We are three adults who get along well and live together. At the same time, we are aware that it is temporary. We don’t want him to stay with us all our lives, and he doesn’t want to stay with us all his life!” exclaims M, laughing.me Sirois.
