Two single mom friends formed a sisterhood after deciding to raise their children together in a four-unit home.
Friends Holly Harper and Herrin Hopper have gone through multiple life changes in the past few years, including the end of both of their marriages. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the women found themselves living in individual apartments and struggling with the challenges of being a single parent. Harper is mom to her nine-year-old daughter and Hopper has two children, ages 13 and nine. After years of joking about raising their children on a commune, the women thought that purchasing a home together would help create a support system for themselves and their families. The two friends decided to purchase a home together in the Washington, DC area.
In August 2020, Harper and Hopper moved into a four-unit home in Takoma Park, Maryland where they rented out the remaining two units. Not long after, another single mom named Leandra Nichola contacted the women. She and her two children — ages nine and 12 — moved into the basement unit and a few months later, Harper and Hopper’s friend Jen Jacobs began renting the top floor unit.
The women call their home “Siren House,” named after the half-bird half-woman creature in mythology who lured sailors to their death with their enchanting songs. The women see the siren as a symbol of female empowerment. According to TODAY, the women hope to expand their co-housing concept to other moms.
“We’re definitely like sisters, and the kids are more like our nieces and nephews,” Harper said in an interview with the Washington Post. “We’re not dependent in an unhealthy way. We’re interdependent.”
“We all have this awareness of each other’s humanity, and a genuine desire to care for one another,” Hopper added. “We’re not romanticizing it. It’s real and true and deep and doable.”
Their support for each other even extends past Siren House. Together, the women helped Nichola fulfill a life-long dream of opening a cafe. In March 2021, the women co-founded the shop Main Street Pearl, a “youth-centered, queer friendly micro-café” managed by Nichola.
They say it takes a village to raise children. For these women, all it takes to form a village is a close-knit group of friends and a mutual desire for support.
