As go Brooklyn's trustafarians, so goes the nation

It's sad news for landlords in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, says a piece in The New York Times' Metro section: the so-called "trustafarians," young adults living on trust funds and other financial assistance from their parents, are starting to lose the faith. No longer are parents able to pony up big down payments to buy condos whose prices far exceeded the 20-somethings' ability to pay; no longer are parents guaranteeing rent on apartments whose costs are more than most artists and young creatives make. One landlord quoted in the piece, Ernie DiGiacomo, says that he's lost tenants whose parents used to make up the difference between his rents and their ability to pay. "Most of them are moving back with parents," he says.

While rents are definitely going down, according to DailyFinance editor and Williamsburg resident Michael Rainey, it's probably not all the fault of the declining value of young Williamsburgians' parents' investments. What is true? Young people everywhere are increasingly turning to their parents for help, and often that means moving back home. For Lake Oswego, Oregon commodities broker Jonathan Paulson, that means a pre-fab tepee in his parents' backyard. (Seriously.)