Generations find creative solutions to housing crises
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
The story is the same in city after city, town after town: the supply of housing, and especially affordable housing, is extremely tight, as demand and prices both increase.
These realities are difficult for seniors: those who own homes are squeezed by huge increases in property tax assessments, and those who rent may be priced out of their homes, even if they’ve lived there for decades.
It’s also difficult for many young people: entering the home-buying market is extremely difficult, and even finding an affordable place to rent is hugely challenging for students and young adults starting out in life.
One solution that’s growing in popularity is intergenerational housing, in which older folks with space in their homes welcome young people as roommates. The younger roommate pays rent that is often lower than market rates, and the older roommate gets some income, help with chores and cooking, and someone nearby to watch out for them.
Many of these arrangements are yielding rich rewards for both types of roommates. Studies have shown that young adults and seniors in America are struggling with loneliness and feelings of isolation, exacerbated by the two-year global pandemic. When they are well-matched, roommates can combat this problem.
“Judith has become like my family,” 25-year-old graduate student Nadia Abdullah said of her 64-year-old roommate, Judith Allenby, in a Washington Post story published last month. Abdullah and Allenby, an attorney who owns a house in Malden, Mass., met through Nesterly, a website that pairs older homeowners in several communities with younger people seeking housing. Abdullah lives in the first floor of Allenby’s home, and the two share housework and gardening, plus the occasional meal and a cat, Mango.
Nesterly and other, similar services join retirement homes and universities across the United States who are teaming up to offer university students living arrangements alongside seniors. The University of California at Berkeley’s program, started in 1986 and one of the nation’s oldest such services, matches home-owning UC-Berkeley retirees with graduate students who need a place to live. The program is on hold for now, but it has been joined by programs at institutions as diverse as Drake University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Winona State University, and Arizona State University.
The centerpiece of ASU’s program, according to a Christian Science Monitor story published last December, is a “high-end, intergenerational senior living residence” that opened on campus last year.
Surrounded by restaurants on the edge of campus and fully a part of the area’s bustle and traffic, the facility helps both ends of the age spectrum break down assumptions about one another and form new, cross-generational friendships. One student noted that she sometimes goes on double dates with an elderly friend she met, while her friend remarked that the living situation “gives me hope for the future.”
Other universities offer performing arts students free rooms at retirement homes in exchange for performing several times a month for residents. Still others offer services like Nesterly to match up vetted university retirees with students who need somewhere to live.
And even where there are no university programs—we’d love to see every college adopt them!—there are still a range of options to help older people connect with younger potential housemates. Here are a few. Keep in mind that some states have more options and programs than others. However, many seem to be actively expanding, so check back if you don’t see something in your area—or, maybe, become a part of bringing such a program to your area!
Nesterly matches homeowners and room seekers living around Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts, central Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky. Both types of potential housemates must pass background checks, and they are then matched according to the compatibility of their specific needs.
Silvernest serves people looking for housing with people searching for roommates. While most of their housemate pairs are both elderly, about 30% are intergenerational. Homeowners, called hosts on the site, can choose from free or paid service plans, as can potential roommates, called “homeseekers” on Silvernest. Users can post a profile or property description, browse matches that closely fit their specifications, privately message potential matches, request and take background checks, and use tools on the site to write a roommate agreement once a good match happens.
The National Shared Housing Resource Center offers housemate matching in 17 states as well as internationally. This service doesn’t specifically serve seniors, but seniors are welcome to use it, and the service has made many intergenerational matches as well as peer-to-peer matches.
Senior Homeshares is a nonprofit that aims to help seniors nationwide both share their homes and find roommates. Because the service is specifically for older adults, intergenerational matches aren’t common here, but there are plenty of peer-to-peer matches made there that can “ help you find companionship, live more safely, and ease your finances.”
