It’s easy to go a whole day without speaking to another person. The internet allows us to shop online, text rather than call, and live a life completely independent of social connections if we choose to.

Independence, however, is not without its pitfalls; worldwide, people are feeling increasingly isolated despite technology making us more connected than ever before.

In Iowa City, however, two housing communities — River City Housing Collective, or RCHC, and Prairie Hill Co-Housing — are embracing an old solution to push back against this growing disconnect: living together, intentionally.

“There is an implicit sustainability to collective living. We have, functionally, eight families living here, but we don’t need eight sets of pans, we don’t need eight separate heating bills. We can all share,” Rachel Guyer, an RCHC said.

The concern for loneliness is not just an emotional one. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, social isolation increases risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, and dementia, significantly increasing a person’s risk of premature death.

In 2023, then U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared loneliness an “epidemic,” warning loneliness and social isolation pose profound health threats and urging the public to take steps in their everyday lives to strengthen their
social relationships.

This concern has been mirrored internationally. Later in the same year, the World Health Organization launched a commission on social connection to address the threat of loneliness and social isolation.

Our social connections to others are just one of many social determinants with health, economic, social, and geographic impacts in our lives. These elements shape our overall well-being despite being out of our control.

Prairie Hill and RCHC are examples of collective living arrangements, where individuals decide to share physical spaces, resources, and responsibility, fostering community and connectivity in our increasingly socially disconnected world.

Founded as a nonprofit housing cooperative and just a short walk from downtown Iowa City, RCHC offers a radically different vision of what home can be.

RCHC is committed to providing its members affordable housing, shared governance, and the opportunity to engage in a fulfilling social experience. Currently, RCHC is at approximately half-capacity, housing nine people.

Each member leases a room for a price below the market average. To maintain their properties while keeping prices affordable, each member must complete 16 hours of work credit a month. This credit is earned through cooking, cleaning, gardening, and community outreach.

RCHC President Julian Langley said while members choose the extent to which they want to participate in house events and shared meals, the structure promotes social interaction through service on committees and shared groceries and utilities.

“As members, we’re supposed to cook for the house twice a month. Not only is it a bonding thing to give us the chance to cook with other people and sit down and enjoy a meal together, but it also gives us a chance to utilize our shared groceries. Each member pays a fee each month we use for communal groceries,” Langley said.

Another Iowa City communal living space, Prairie Hill Co-Housing, places an even more explicit focus on sustainability.

“All of our houses were built with environmentally friendly components. We use recycled material very heavily insulated to decrease heating and cooling costs, and at least half of them have solar panels. We were awarded elite gold status by the Green Building Council,” resident Cecile Goding said.

Unlike RCHC, where individuals rent out a single room or unit within a larger home, Prairie Hill is a condominium regime. Each housing unit is owned independently, tied together by collectively owned land and common areas.

Prairie Hill is currently home to a diverse community. With 37 units housing more than 50 people, their residents range from young children to senior citizens.

In the center of the properties is a common house, a shared building with a kitchen, dining room, laundry room, playroom, gym, and other amenities. This facility serves as the social heart of the neighborhood, providing a home base for the community to gather for celebrations, weekly dinners, collective meetings, or day-to-day quiet conversation.

Goding views these shared spaces as essential to Prairie Hill’s mission for connectivity.

“People aren’t lonely. There’s a general feeling of support here,” Goding said. “A lot of people here are single, or their families live far away. But we’re each other’s family now.”

The built-in social network of these communities drew Grinnell College graduate Phil Tyne to seek out collective housing with RCHC.

“I knew while I was taking time away from being in school. I wanted to be active in a community, which is difficult to find. There is an unparalleled level of genuineness and intentionality in our community at RCHC and collective housing in general. Moving into this house was a way for me to not feel isolated after leaving the academic community on my college campus,” Tyne said.

For Tyne, living in a housing collective is a way to combat the growing social isolation and the social echo chambers we find online.

“People are incredibly isolated, and we live in an incredibly individualistic society, and collective housing is a practice of intentional community where not everyone you live with is necessarily going to share all of your identities or specific values. It’s a practice in recognizing we live with a wide variety of people and learning how to interact with people different from us,” Tyne said.

The philosophies behind Prairie Hill and RCHC echo a growing body of research proving human connection is key to health and well-being. Paul Gilbert, associate professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at the University of Iowa, explained the intersection of community and health outcomes.

“People do better when they’re connected,” Gilbert said. “In my specific research on alcohol recovery, people mention over and over that a spouse, a sponsor, or a key friend
was instrumental.”

Despite the benefits of connection, many Americans report feeling alone. A 2024 American Psychiatric Association poll found 30 percent of adults experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week, and 30 percent of Americans aged 18-34 said they were lonely several times a week or every day.

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One potential explanation for this epidemic is simple: People do not have as many social connections as they used to.

“This has been extensively researched,” Gilbert said. “Researchers began to document that young people weren’t joining clubs, teams, or community groups as much as previous generations had. Around the same time, we saw the internet and social media rise, and people started to connect in these virtual ways.”

Technology offers the illusion of connection, but experts wonder whether it can truly replicate the emotional and physical benefits of interpersonal interaction. Prairie Hill has worked to combat this, particularly with its younger population.

“It is harder to get kids outside and interested in things, but the kids here just run all over the place. We just know they’re in someone’s house, and someone is taking care of them,” Goding said.

Intentional communities like RCHC and Prairie Hill are not a new idea, as Goding points out. They echo older traditions of communal living. Many cultures embrace a more collectivist culture marked by resource sharing and multi-family or multi-generational households.

“There was a lot of co-housing and communal living in the ‘70s, so it’s that background here — aging hippies. But intentional communities are old. In some countries, the standard is to have extended families all live in one house or have households be connected,” Goding said.

In the U.S., however, the dominant housing model has long prioritized independence and ownership. Yet as loneliness and isolation rise, more people question whether the model serves their emotional and social needs.

“Isolation is dangerous. When I grew up, everyone in the community knew who needed help, and we were able to support each other. Now, we don’t even always know what’s happening two blocks away from us,” Goding said.

For many people, including Tyne, collective housing offers a counter-narrative: one where intentionality takes center stage, and small choices become an act of resistance.

“I think right now is an especially important time to reflect on how engaged you are with your community,” Tyne said. “There are ways to be engaged with your community outside of collective housing, but collective housing is one way to make a tangible difference in people’s lives by being a reciprocal support system and actually engaging in healthy communication.”

Our social ties to others — even casual connections — are instrumental to our overall health. Unlike other negative health forces, public policy or legislation cannot easily solve loneliness.

Gilbert points out, however, that doesn’t mean social change is beyond reach. By understanding the ties between social connection and bodily health, individuals are empowered to make small-scale choices, like who they live with and how they live.

“We know we can change our social world. Our norms and customs change over time, even if they tend to be very slow-moving,” Gilbert said. “But I think there are intentional steps we can take to open the door to change.”