Perhaps there’s still room for young people to learn and achieve valuable things within their home sphere: as more elderly people move into their children’s homes, as more Americans begin to telecommute, and as more families choose to homeschool, the home may continue to become a revitalized and important sphere of life. If so, young people at home could play a vital role in that sphere: helping with everything from domestic work to child or elder care, gardening and landscaping to repair work and maintenance.

Of course, there will be a temptation for that millennial house-crasher to binge on Netflix and only chip in an occasional $20 for groceries. But ideally, such a situation could breathe new life into the home sphere, transferring our attention away from commuter living, and toward the sort of neighborhood-nourishing practices that we’ve increasingly ignored of late.

Some areas (like Washington, D.C.) are exorbitantly expensive for young people and interns—and many turn to friends’ basements or spare bedrooms for affordable space. In an ideal situation, a mother-in-law suite or other attached or detached living space could offer many benefits for the young, enabling them to procure jobs they may not otherwise be able to take.