More Iranians are moving back in with family or taking on roommates after losing jobs and struggling to keep up with rising rents in major cities, according to messages sent to Iran International.
“I worked at a petrochemical company and got fired. Since we can no longer afford rent, my wife, two children and I have moved back into my parents’ house,” one citizen told Iran International.
Another, a woman supporting her household alone, said she was forced to share her home after losing her job at a restaurant.
“I am the head of my household and after losing my job at a restaurant, I had no choice but to get a roommate to reduce rent and living costs while raising my teenage child,” she told Iran International.
Shargh newspaper reported on Thursday that more tenants in Tehran and other large cities are turning to shared housing, returning to parents’ homes or leaving the capital altogether as rent and living costs climb.
The newspaper cited residents who said they were searching for roommates for the first time after years of living independently, while others described plans to move back with family members or relocate to smaller cities after losing income.
A 45-year-old woman who had lived alone in central Tehran for two decades told Shargh she was considering taking in roommates because she could no longer afford rent on her own.
“More than two decades passed living alone and now I have to change my standards,” she told the newspaper. “Paying 400 million rials ($220) in rent in Tehran’s Bahar neighborhood is impossible for me.”
Another resident said he and his brother were looking for a third housemate after his workplace suspended operations and stopped paying salaries.
Reverse migration from Tehran
Shargh said some residents were preparing to leave Tehran entirely after years in the capital, describing what it called a wave of reverse migration driven by economic hardship and shrinking work opportunities.
One editor told the newspaper she was returning to her hometown Kashan in her mid-40s after more than two decades in Tehran because rising costs and declining work in publishing left her unable to continue living independently.
“I thought I would return to Kashan after retirement, not in middle age because I can no longer survive economically in Tehran,” she told Shargh.
The report also pointed to signs of tighter housing supply, citing online property listings and real estate agents who said available rental units had declined while demand increased, particularly after displacement linked to the conflict with Israel.
Erosion of independence
Sociologist Abdolvahab Shahlibar told Shargh that shared housing in Iran is increasingly a financial necessity rather than a lifestyle choice.
“Efforts to improve quality of life have in many cases been replaced by efforts to preserve basic survival,” Shahlibar told the newspaper, warning that being forced to return to parents’ homes or abandon independent living could reshape social relationships and personal identity.
