Home Sharing: A Possible Solution to the Senior Housing Shortage
My friend Juliet's mother is in her nineties and "aging quite well," as we like to say. Widowed a few years ago, she has not retreated into a quiet life. She remains socially active, plays a lot of bridge, and spends time with her friends and extensive family.
But she is slowing down, and it has become harder for her to maintain her large home on her own. She wants to stay there, but living alone creates practical and safety concerns, her children have started to worry about her, and she finds that she sometimes feels lonely living alone.
And, sadly, her money is starting to run out. Her retirement savings would have been more than adequate if she had not lived so long. There is a lot of irony in that reality:
"Congratulations on making it into your nineties in good health. Unfortunately, when you planned for retirement, you never imagined you would live this long, and now you have to worry about whether your money will outlast you."
Rather than push her to sell the house and move, as so many of us try to do with our aging parents, Juliet and her siblings came up with an alternative solution.
Juliet's niece, Chelsea, has been renting a home in the same neighborhood as her grandmother. She has wanted to buy a home for years, but nothing nearby has been within her budget. She was preparing to move to a less expensive area when someone in the family suggested a different approach: Chelsea could buy her grandmother's home, with her grandmother continuing to live there.
The house will belong to Chelsea, but her grandmother will retain the legal right to remain there until she dies or requires a higher level of care.
The closing is just a few weeks away, and I will be interested to see how the arrangement works out. It could be an elegant solution to one of the challenges facing older adults in this country: the lack of affordable housing options that allow seniors to remain in their communities.
Of course, I can also see potential complications. Managing expectations will be important. Will Chelsea want to spend a great deal of time with her grandmother? Will her grandmother want the same? Or will they settle into something more like a traditional roommate arrangement, where each leads a largely independent life?
Juliet and her siblings are particularly focused on making sure Chelsea does not become an unofficial full-time caregiver. Even with the best intentions, some responsibilities will naturally fall to her.
Here in New York City, the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens operates a home-sharing program that matches older adults who have extra space in their homes with younger people seeking affordable housing. The younger person may simply pay below-market rent, or in some cases receive reduced rent in exchange for helping with household tasks.
For a senior who wants to remain at home but struggles with everyday chores such as taking out the garbage, vacuuming, or grocery shopping, this can be an appealing option. This can also be a good solution to the loneliness that some older adults face when they outlive their spouse and friends.
There are certainly plenty of ways these arrangements could go wrong. But there is also the possibility that they could work remarkably well, solving two housing challenges at the same time. An older adult gains companionship, practical support, and additional income, while a younger person gains access to affordable housing.
Many of the older adults we work with tell us they want to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Home sharing will not be the right solution for everyone, but it raises an interesting question: are there alternatives between living completely alone and moving to a senior community?
As the population ages and housing costs continue to rise, I suspect we will see more families and communities exploring creative solutions like these. It will be fascinating to watch what works, what doesn't, and whether home sharing becomes a more common part of the conversation about aging in place.