how are you doing? 0h, hi. we might be on film. 0h! she laughs my mum called it the single mums' mansion, but others call it a mummune. it was two adults looking after four children and you divide and conquer. yeah. it was just so lovely for me to be in something again. yeah. it was great that we had each other. and just like my mum, many single parents around the world are choosing to live together. this gave me the possibility also to be kind of seen as a parent. you know, there's 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... baby coos ..and if living together is really the answer. wow! my name is lilla and i'm 21, studying psychology at university. but when i was five, i lived in a mummune. when i think back on the mummune, 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. we watched quite a lot of glee. 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. it was organic. yeah. it was... i was trying to not say organic. sorry. 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 we'll see what happens." and then... ..i stayed for a few more christmases... they laugh 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 of weeks and 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 cot. ..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 childcare, 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... yeah. ..is really hard. so when there's two responsible adults, the load is shared. and i think that's how... massively. just the emotional load as well. we shared... yeah. we shared our... we cried. 0h, a lot. 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.

and... but we were... we wouldn't necessarily be speaking. no. but we were... we didn't need to. ..here together... you just... ..and i think... it's nice. yeah. it's like a warm, fuzzy... yes. ..feeling. yeah, we made our own little family. yeah. yes. what was the overall reaction? everybody just thought. .. "what a great idea." yeah. but then they kept on thinking it was amazing. i think our friends saw us both quite broken. yeah, so they picked up the pieces. and then, when we... ..when we started living together, they saw that we were getting better. yeah. and that it was a good thing. it's hard being a single parent. especially when you... ..you haven't chosen to be a single parent. no, yeah, exactly. that was my... i would never have done this on my own because i know how hard it is. yeah. it takes a village! it does. it takes a village. yeah. it takes a mummune. yeah. they laugh yeah. it was really nice having two adults, i guess,

in the house, because they were both very different. mum was obviously my mum, 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 really nice because itjust... i think there was a lot of nice female energy in the house. it was like vicky was like another parent back in the day, really. my mum and vicky formed a collective along with their local friend 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 king... super king—sized bed in here. nice. and the desk was on the other side because that's where i used to work. um, 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 it... we were a bit sardines. this was the mums'. 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... ..that�*s a bit more

of a movement now. but i believe in america it was actually... it's been going... i mean, in so many communities it's been... it's just 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 can... well, it works. worked 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. oh, that's way smarter. i 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 their set—up and experience is similar or different to what i know and what i

can kind of remember. just switch on the right setting. ow. yeah, it's hot. i'm a bit nervous to, um... ..interview people because i've never done it before, but i'm hoping that it's going to be ok. but mostly i'm... i'm excited and... ..curious. i'm curious about what everyone�*s going to tell me. right. this is it. this is... surely. they're definitely done. yes. perfect. the word "mommune" 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 mum of three, living the lake life in small town texas _ 0k. hello! hi. i caught up with brooke and herfriend djemilah, two mums who literally

built their mummune 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... it was kind of like an organic... ..thing that we weren't expecting to really be a long—term thing either. um, 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... ..we separated. i was like, "i can't do this anymore." it was a very toxic environment. and then he tells me, "i'm leaving. "you can tell that brooke lady that i'm not..." they laugh "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 work 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. 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 mum 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 has just been, like, suchjust 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 like 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 with djemilah'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... yeah, wejust did it. wejust started going. we had the audacity to try. yeah. it's been really great for our children, especially the girls, because we have three girls to watch their mums create their homes. we have this kind of little tiny collective of two houses where we get to live next to each other and cooperate and have like a little community and also

have our own separate spaces where we canjust kind of, yeah, live our lives and have some peace and heal after all of the... all of the life that happened between us. and we've got four kids that share this space with us and we're really excited to keep growing. brooke and djemilah 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. so i get enquiries from like 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, like 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's just 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. . . ? totally. yeah, with all these problems? because it sounds like they all come down to housing. yeah, it really does. yeah. it really does. and support, you know. yes. and 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, "oh, "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.

yeah. 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. welcome. nice to meet you. i'm lilla. i'm tara. commune is a property business which has just started. so i went to poissy, 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 parent's 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 like months later, covid hit and with it the loneliness pandemic. and i realised that co—living was super interesting for isolated groups of people. they speak french 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, yuna, who moved in with her two—year—old son. how do you find it living with other parents? she speaks french 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! lilla? yeah, lilla. hi. lovely to meet you. welcome in. thank you. artworks. beautiful. yeah. back in the uk, i went to meet two dads, lenart and simone, who, two years ago, had never met. i wanted to see what they had created for themselves, lenart�*s son, luca, and simone�*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. aw! so she's very keen on it. yeah. 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 flatmates,

and i had my daughter, which was four at the time. and ifound it very hard, 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, like, research, i 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 buddy—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 we just 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 similar age. also, the kids, exactly the same age. they are two months apart. um... so they basically live with one of their best friends, and it's sweet. they're always looking forward to meet each other. um, yeah. and obviously, you know, we help each other. we help where we can. and sometimes the day is just too long and a 20—minute distraction for the kids where you can do something 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. yeah. have there been any challenging aspects of it, or has it been pretty smooth sailing? compared to, you know, to...

..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 kind of boundaries when you are dealing with a child. 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 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? a peace of mind, like, 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 role. am i holding luca's hand? yes. nice. we're all holding hands. oh, that's lovely. mm—hm. what's your future plans, then, together? is it going to continue in the long term? yeah. we briefly talked about next steps, which would be put the little ones in their own room. mm—hm. yeah. upgrade, not change. yeah, exactly. nice. yeah, yeah, yeah. and sometimes my daughter asks me

if, "can we live together forever?" so i feel like, aw! no! they laugh i have two yellows and you have two yellows as well. so 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. 0h! iwin! you win. hey, i did it. yeah! yeah, but you must have cheated! it reminded me of how my mummune was just as lovely and how dealing with my parents' divorce was balanced out with so much joy and fun. we had our own little family. yeah. 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... yeah.

..which was obviously very lucky. and if it's because vicky helped you... it totally is because vicky 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... ..yeah, 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 mummune had a huge part to play in that. massively. yeah. being a single mum 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 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, like, a supportive relationship with. that they can possibly have. - 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. really lovely to see. hello there. as the wet and windy weather cleared south on new year's day, it opened the door for cold arctic air to spill right across the country and it's going to stay bitterly cold as we head

into the weekend. overnight frost and ice could be a risk for some, and there's a potential for some disruptive snow. so we're under this, clearer skies at the moment, showers feeding in across the far north and west, that cold air descending right across the country. so ice could be an issue first thing, particularly along those exposed coasts where we've seen a rash of showers falling. elsewhere, a frosty start, a cold start, but lots of sunshine to look out for — just like we had this thursday. there will continue to be a feed of showers, particularly down through the irish sea, and some showers of snow the south—east, single figures in scotland again. temperatures struggling to climb above freezing in some places — generally around 2—4 degrees. now, as we move through the evening, once again, those showers will continue to tuck in along those exposed north and west coasts, so icy stretches again at risk. another cold night to come, with temperatures falling below freezing. so a frosty start to saturday. but it's saturday, or the beginning of the weekend, that we really start to see the first signs of this change, and we could see some significant snow developing late on saturday,

into the early hours of sunday morning. so a cold, crisp, frosty start, some sunshine around, a few scattered showers into the far north—west. during the afternoon, though, this veil of cloud is spilling across the south—west, the first signs of this weather front, and that is going to trap that cold air, really making it feel quite bitter. just a couple of degrees above freezing for some of us through saturday afternoon. and so as this weather front through the evening on saturday pushes into that cold air, on the leading edge, we'll see snow. it should turn readily back to rain across central and southern england. but areas like the peak district, the pennines, northern ireland, southern uplands of scotland could see some significant snow, and with strong winds, blizzard—like drifting conditions from time to time as well. look at the difference with the temperatures on sunday —

double digits down to

i'm sumi somaskanda. it's good to have you with us. the fbi says it now believes a 42—year—old us army veteran acted alone in the attack on new year's day that killed 11! people and wounded dozens more in new orleans. shamsud—dinjabbar drove a pick—up truck into large crowds gathered in the city's french quarter before police officers shot him dead amid a firefight. the fbi says they conducted hundreds of interviews and combed through the suspect�*s social media profiles. tom bateman has more from new orleans. the first moments before a deadly rampage. a planned attack unleashed in just seconds. and the narrowest of escapes for some. the fbi probe is now focusing on shamsud—dinjabbar,