notjust me, also my brother and sister. you guys cuddled up on the sofa. we then had to get a new sofa because you put your foot through it. and for a few years, my mum's best friend and her daughter lived with us too. hello. 0h. my mum called it the single mum's mansion, but others call it a commune. it was two adults looking after four children. and you divide and conquer. it was just so lovely for me to be in something again. it was great that we had each othen — and just like my mum, many single parents around the world are choosing to live together.

these gave me the possibility also to be kind of seen - as as a parent, as someone who knows what i'm - going through. it's really a healing space. the famous scooter loop. i have wonderful memories of my childhood, so i want to find out how single parents and their children are coping, notjust in the uk, but around the world. and if living together is really the answer. my name is lilla and i'm 21, studying psychology at university. but when i was five, i lived in a mum—une. when i think back on the mum—une, ijust remember lots of people being in this house. ijust remember it being fun. mum was going through a divorce and feeling lonely and vicky, her best friend, was going through the same. i guess it's not the most traditional thing to do,

but it makes so much sense when you think about it. when people need help with their kids and single parents, they don't think, "0h, i'lljust move in "with my best friend who's also a single parent." but i don't know why. today we're back in the house where once we all lived together, because i want to understand, now as an adult myself, how it all came about. it was a very natural occurrence. organic. yeah. it was. i was trying to not say organic. it was a really natural occurrence. i needed somewhere to live. you had a spare bedroom? yeah. ijust said to vic, save your money and just move in with me for a bit with daisy and stay till christmas. yeah, stay till christmas and see what happens. and then i stayed for a few more christmases because it worked. we made it work without any fuss or fight that you might have if you were in a romantic relationship.

and what were the first couple weeks or months like? how was it suddenly going from you having a newborn baby to then also having three more kids living with you? i moved in with a suitcase, a rail, a bag of clothes for daisy, a couple of towels and a cot _ yeah. and my life suddenly became very simplified, but i had people to talk to and be part of something again. whereas being on my own, i found really hard. because i was feeling so rubbish about, you know, going through a divorce is hard, whatever. but ijust, ijust, my brain couldn't concentrate. ijust felt i got up, did child care. i was trying to work as well. and then it would be bedtime. and then i'm here on my own. being responsible,

the responsible adult, it's really hard. so when there's two responsible adults, the load is shared. and i think that's how we we shared. yeah, we shared, we cried. i mean, this isn't the sofa, but the sofa was here. yeah. and we sat on the sofa a lot and cried and laughed, drank some wine and watched some romcoms. oh, yeah. romcoms. but we were. we wouldn't necessarily be speaking. no, but we were. we didn't. you're here together. ijust think it's nice. yeah. it's like a warm fuzzy... yes. we made our own little family. what was the overall reaction? everybody just thought

what a great idea. but then, they kept on thinking it was... amazing. i think our friends saw us both quite broken. yeah. and then when we when we started living together, they saw that we were getting better and that it was a good thing. it's hard being a single parent. especially when you haven't chosen to be a single parent. that was my... i would never have done this on my own because i know how hard it is. it takes a village. it's that. yeah. it takes a village. it was really nice having two adults, i guess, in the house, because they were both very different. mom was obviously my mom, so she could boss me around and tell me what to do. and then vicky would be the one that would give me sweets and, um, let me put sugar in my tea and stuff like that. mum was describing it the other day as a good cop, bad cop kind of vibe that they had going on. um, but it was, it was really nice because itjust, i think there was a lot of nice female energy in the house. it was like vicky was another parent back in, in the day, really.

my mum and vicky formed a collective along with their localfriend nicola, who was also going through a divorce. so, it was three mums, six kids, making it work all together. so, obviously, this is my room now, but who used to stay in here in the old days? this was my room and i had the super king sized bed in here. nice. and the desk was on the other side because that's where i used to work. and when it was a busy weekend, so when nicola and both her kids were here, and vicky and daisy and us, nicola would be with me in the king size bed. it was the only way we could fit everybody in, so we were a bit sardines. this was the mums' room. the mums' room. yeah. studies show that while single parent families are at a higher risk of financial hardship, they are also more likely to suffer from poor mental health, often feeling isolated. in a survey in the uk, 43% of single parents reported low self—esteem, compared to 30%

of coupled parents. so do you guys have any thoughts on why it's seen as an unusual thing to do, and why more people don't do it? having a spare bedroom. without that, we could never have done it. it is something that's a bit more of a movement now. but i believe in america, it was actually, and in so many communities it'sjust what happens. but yeah, i think people are wary, but people are doing it because what are the alternatives? it's quite harsh, the housing situation. yeah. and it's easy for me in my ivory tower to say that. but i know that it is. yeah. life's expensive. life's really expensive. and having a baby is really expensive. yeah. but friends moving in together with kids, it works. work for us.

how much do you reckon goes on one? like how much of a jar? so i normally do it. i start at the top. i do have a systematic approach. well, you should have showed me that first. sorry. i'm really excited to meet some other people that have done similar things to what mum, vicky and nicola did, because i want to see how they're set up and experiences similar or different to what i know and what i can kind of remember. switch on the right setting. yeah, it's hot. i'm a bit nervous to, um, interview people because i've never done, but i'm hoping that it's going to be ok. but mostly i'm excited and curious. i'm curious about what everyone's going to tell me. right, this is it. this is definitely done. yes. perfect.

the word mum—une was actually coined by a mum in california called carmen boss in 2002, and it's definitely more of a thing in america than it is in europe. hi, i'm brooke, a single mom of three living the lake life . in small town texas. hello. hi. i caught up with brooke and herfriend jamila, two mums who literally built their mum—une with their own two hands. so how did it all start then? how did you guys meet and how did you decide to set up living together? so it was kind of like an organic thing _ that we weren't expecting to really be a long - term thing either. actually, brooke used - to have a coffee shop in town, and my partner at the time, which i was living with in - texas, he had sold her some services for her coffee shop.|

shortly after that, _ we separated and i was like, "i can't do this anymore." it was a very toxic environment. - and then he tells me, "i'm leaving. - "you could tell that - brooke lady that i'm not "going to fulfil the work that i charged her for."| and so i reached out- to her and i was like, hey, so i will fulfil the worki for you, just if you can, like, give me a second because i don't have . anywhere to live. yeah. and that was kind of something that i had personal experience with because when i was younger i was in a really, really abusive relationship and was able to get out through some social services. and after that, i always wanted to be able to provide that for someone else. and the timing just worked out in that i had just moved out of the rv into the cottage. and so i was living there and i had an empty rv, and i was like, well, hey, if you need a place to live, um, you know, i'm a single mom too, and i've got this space.

do you want to come check it out and see if it would work for you and your daughter? how was building your own house? because that's pretty incredible. it hasjust been, like, just a whirlwind, um, | of trying to learn how to do it _ so i have some building experience. i've been doing, like, furniture and carpentry for about 15 years. i live in a converted shed and i did all the finish work myself. it took about a year of work after work to get it to a point where i could move in. and withjamila's we had this cover over the rv and one day we were just sitting outside and we were like, this would be a really cool house. and then we just did it. we just started going. we had the audacity to try. yeah. it's been really great for ouri children, especially the girls, because we have three girls to watch their moms -

create their homes. we have this kind of little i tiny collective of two houses where we get to live next. to each other and cooperate and have a little community and also have our own - separate spaces where we can just kind of, yeah, _ live our lives and have some peace and heall after all of the all of the - life that happened between us. and we've got four kids that share this space with us, i and we're really excited to keep growing. - brooke and jamila have built something special. when i spoke to them, they said they thought they'd been lucky. that was also a word my mum used. so i wanted to speak to someone who helps mums that aren't so lucky. you work with single mums, right? and what kind of things do you help them with with this charity? so the main thing that's coming up a lot is housing. i get enquiries from the perinatal teams, the community midwives,

a number of mothers on their caseload that are homeless, are in temporary accommodation, unsuitable accommodation as well. to me, your basic need is food, shelter and water. like, you need a roof over your head or somewhere to lay your head, especially if you've got children or a child. isolation as well. mothers are very, very isolated. everybody needs a network. and i think in the times that we're living in now, parenting doesn't come with a manual. so it's important to find a mother, even if it'sjust to bounce things off to say, yeah, me too. setting up communal living like what mum and vicky did, but maybe on a bigger scale. do you think that could help with all these problems? because it sounds like they all come down to housing. yeah, it really does. and support. yeah. you know, support. so setting up something where not only you've got a roof over your head but you've got on site support. i think that's every

mother's dream. you know, being able to just call on somebody or somebody, say, "i'll hold the baby while you, you know, "take a half an hour nap." everybody uses the saying, it takes a village. that's your living village when you think about it. and if the dynamics are right, it can work. and you're a by—product of that, clearly. a survey in the uk found that 47% of single parents live in poverty, compared with 24% of couple parents, and with the average cost of rent rising at record levels, it's no surprise to learn that housing is one of the biggest problems single parents face, particularly when they're competing against two income families. but there is one company in france that rents exclusively to single parents. hello. nice to meet you.

i'm lilla. this commune is a property business which has just started. so i went to just north of paris, to see how it could make a difference for single parent families. so in this commune, we've got 13 units. so every unit can accommodate one family. here we go. whoa! and so here we're in a trio unit. so it's a unit that can accommodate a parent and up to two children. so here is the child or children's bedroom. and here is the parents' room. the whole idea started right before covid when i was headhunted by a co—living company, and that's how i discovered the whole thing about co—living and shared housing and so on. a couple of months later, covid hit and with it the loneliness pandemic. and i realised that co—living was super interesting for isolated groups of people.

the largest demographics with the most unmet needs were single parents and their children, who are systematically competing with dual income applications when they're searching for housing. and it became very obvious that co—living, as a fully inclusive housing and service solution, was something that had great potential. and surprisingly, i realised that no one else in the world had thought about it or launched a company around that successfully. so i decided to take up that challenge. and now it's been almost eight months that we've been accommodating families and their children. what's the feedback you've received from people living here? people are very excited to find the community and the village, basically, they were looking for. and even if it's not easy to, like, adapt to a new way

of life, learning to live with tons of neighbours with whom you share your laundry and your dishes and having this playroom where you've got lots and lots of kids making lots and lots of noise. obviously, has its challenges. but mostly people are extremely happy and so far they're staying, so it must be working. did you learn in school? yes, i learned in school, but... i caught up with one of the parents, euna, who moved in with her two year old son. how do you find it living with other parents?

this commune is a good example of how single parents can help each other. of the ten parents currently renting, nine are mothers and one is a single dad. because of course, it's notjust mums who are single parents. so what about the dads? hello. lovely to meet you. welcome. thank you. back in the uk, i went to meet two dads, leonard and simon, who two years ago had never met. i wanted to see what they had created for themselves. leonard's son luca and simon's daughter frida.

did luca get frida the dragon from ljubljana? yeah, they went on holidays and they came back with this for frida. so it's a little dragon that protects her during the night. so she's very keen on it. i was wondering if you could tell me how you guys met and how this all started. i was looking for a new place. i was already sharing a house with other two, um, flatmates, and i had my daughter, which was four at the time, and ifound it very hard, uh, being a single parent, to find a new place. i can't afford a place for myself, so i had to share. and so after months of research, i, uh, decided maybe it's worth trying to find another parent to buddy up with and to find a house together. so i started looking around, and then i found out on this website where you can find rooms, there's a section for

that purpose for budding ups. and there i found a few single parents. i got a phone call. i was very surprised because my profile was there for about three years without any contact. but yeah, after the phone call, there was a few quick coffees, kind of got along. the idea of living together seemed reasonable. then the kids met. they got along very well. they started playing instantly. they didn't squabble, they didn't bicker. so that was also a good thing. and then ijust started looking for available flats. so how long has it been going on for now? we've been in this place for a bit over a year. the kids, they get along very well. we do as well. we are a similar age. also the kids exactly the same age. they are two months apart. so they basically live with one of their best friends, and it's sweet. they're always looking forward to meet each other.

and obviously, you know, we help each other. we help where we can. and sometimes the day isjust too long and a 20 minute distraction for the kids where you can do something is is worth its weight in gold. it sets you in a different kind of mindset. and you feel much more at home and at ease. it's a home. yeah. it's a home. have there been any challenging aspects of it, or has it been pretty smooth sailing? compared to, you know, to, um, a situation where you would share anyway, i don't see really any particular challenge in this. one thing which might be difficult sometimes, you know, it's kind of understand each other�*s boundaries when you are dealing with a child, uh, because we're both parents, we both, you know, love each other�*s kids. and sometimes maybe you want to kind of intervene or do your own things, but you have to respect,

you know, the other parent's way of doing stuff. so that's something that can be challenging sometimes to, to understand, you know, where your kind of limit is. um, and that requires a bit of communication, obviously, between the two of us. what are the best bits, then, of living together? peace of mind, you don't feel you have all the responsibility on your shoulders. and also, it is nice to see the impact he is having on my child. so here we have you. and this is... luca. she loves having a friend to live with and also kind of an uncle or i don't know how to, you know, call him, but that cares about her and loves her. it's kind of a new, uh, role. am i holding luca's hand? yes. nice. we're all holding hands. 0h. that's lovely.

what's your future plans then together? is it going to continue in the long term? yeah. it briefly talked about next steps which would be put the little ones in their own room. yeah. upgrade. not change. yeah. nice. and sometimes when my daughter asked me if, if can we can we live together forever. uh, soifeel like, oh, no. i have two yellows and you have two yellows as well. after going over to simone and lenart�*s today, i came away with such a warm feeling. they've created such a lovely space for their children and the way that they were talking about their kids and their relationship together as well. it was really special. i win, you win.

idid it. it reminded me of how my mum—une wasjust as lovely and how dealing with my parents' divorce was balanced out with so much joy and fun. we had our own little family. it was all good. i know lots of friends that can remember when their parents were separated, quite a negative experience. but from my memories, you and dad have always been friends. which was obviously very lucky. and it's because vicki helped. totally. it's because vicki was here. it totally is. because vicki was here. because half the time when you're a parent going through something like that, you do lash out. you are angry. but i had someone who had my back and also, your dad and i are friends.

we're good friends. and i would not want it to be any other way. yeah. because it's what's best for everybody, really. and i do think being in the mum—une had a huge part to play in that. massively. being a single mom can be really challenging when you don't have a backup, and we've been able to give each other that backup. we're just here to support each other and raise - the kids and make sure - that they have the best lives that they can possibly have. i think if there was a situation where i was a single parent, i would definitely do it. i think it's a wonderful thing that it helps people heal and rebuild new relationships. it's who you choose to love and care about and rely on and to have a supportive relationship with. community is so important, and we're quite an individualistic society, and it's nice to see people relying on and getting help from other humans as well. it's really lovely to see.

hello there. we're holding on to this very benign, gloomy weather across most of the country. winds are light, so there's nothing really to stirthe airaround. so it does stay cloudy and misty for most. some fog patches in places which could be stubborn to clear, and we'll continue to see patches of light rain and drizzle. this fog could be problematic across england and wales through the course of today, so just bear that in mind if you are heading out on the roads. so it's all down to this area of high pressure bringing these light winds, very stagnant air. we still have this weather front straddling parts of scotland, northern ireland, that will bring thicker cloud with outbreaks of rain here. but most of england and wales will be rather grey with that fog in places, although some sunshine certainly over the higher ground of wales, across the pennines, perhaps over the moors of south west england. but for most it stays cloudy and feels quite chilly. temperatures in single figures for most, up to 10 or 11 across scotland,

where we get some sunshine. as we head through tonight, it stays quite misty and murky for england and wales. further outbreaks of rain for scotland and northern ireland as we continue to see that weather front draped across the north. any clear spells, temperatures will dip close to freezing, but where we hold on to the cloud, then generally between 4 and 9 degrees. into the weekend, then, we have this weather front pushing a little bit further southwards, so it could bring outbreaks of rain to central southern scotland, northern ireland. but through the day, with the breeze picking up in the northwest, we may start to see more sunshine for scotland and northern ireland, with a few showers in the northwest, but again, for large parts of england and wales, it's going to be another rather grey and gloomy day to start the weekend, and again quite chilly. seven to 10 or 11 degrees. some changes, though, as we move into sunday. more isobars on the chart. it turns breezier. a more active weather front pushes into scotland, so some heavier, more persistent rain here. more of a breeze, so we should see the clouds breaking up,

even across england and wales, and an increasing chance of seeing some sunshine, which will be a bit of a relief. temperatures may respond a bit, up to 10 or ii for most, where any mist and fog lingers or low cloud, then it will stay quite chilly, but it stays unsettled. wet, windy across northern areas in the run up to new year, and there's a potential of a deeper area of low pressure, which could bring some wet and stormy weather around new year's eve, so this could give rise to some transport disruption. have to stay tuned to the forecast for this. and then in the first few days of january, looks like it will turn colder for all with sunshine and wintry showers. take care.

live from london, this is bbc news. a nasa spacecraft has made history by surviving the closest ever approach to the sun. one of the last functioning hospitals in northern gaza has been forcibly evacuated

by the israeli military. azerbaijan airlines says that the preliminary results of the investigation into the plane crash in kazakhstan has found there was "external physical and technical interference". the prime minister of nepal says there are too many tigers in his country and wants to give some away. hello, i'm lucy hockings. a nasa space probe has made history by flying closer to the sun than any other spacecraft. the parker solar probe was out of communication with nasa for three days after coming within six million kilometres of the sun's surface and facing temperatures of up to 1,000 celsius. the spacecraft will provide data about the properties of the sun and will help forecast space—weather events that can affect life on earth, as pallab ghosh reports.

it seems like science fiction — sending an un—crewed