The household as a social formation is being assigned a renewed function in
the provision of social welfare via neoliberal austerity politics. Government inaction regarding
housing provision is forcing millions of young adults into “parental co-habitation”. In
contrast to the dominant ideological view of the family as a school of liberty through the
provision of welfare, this article argues that the dependence of millions of young adults on
the parental household is degenerative both for the individual “recipient” and for the future
democratic character of the polity. Mobilizing a Neo-Roman analysis of Liberty, I argue that
housing policy is promoting the long-term creation of “slaves” as part of a wider strategy of
oligarchic domination. The article seeks to articulate an explicitly political theoretical
critique of “parental co-habitation” and advocates for directed government action in the area
of housing provision to secure the autonomy and independence of a generation otherwise
reduced to “slavishness”.