Studies suggest that normal growth through the various stages of life requires contact, at each stage, with people and institutions from all the other ages. No one stage in the life cycle is self-sufficient. People need support from, and contact with, other people who have reached a different stage in the life cycle, just as they also need support from people who are at the same stage as they are themselves. However, present housing patterns and life styles tend to keep different types of households segregated from each other. There are many areas of two-bedroom houses, other areas of three- and four- bedroom houses and others of studio and one-bedroom apartments. This means that there are corresponding areas of single people, couples and small families, segregated by type. The effects of household segregation are profound.