Share housing on the rise: How a house guest became a best friend

All around the world, people are living in shared accommodation – either in rental houses, or leasing a room from a friend – in a bid to cut down on the cost of living.

And while the rental market is largely made up of 20-30 somethings, there’s a growing trend which has seen older people dive into share housing.

Leading Australian share housing platform, Flatmates.com.au released a report in 2016 which found that in January and February of that year, the number of over 40s using the site to find accommodation rose by 20% compared with the same period in 2015.

The largest increase was in the 60-64 age bracket with 43% relative growth, followed by the 50-54 and 65+ age groups with 31% and 29%, respectively.

Steve Caddy, Flatmates.com.au executive manager, suggests the growth was due to a greater acceptance of sharing and high rental costs.

“At Flatmates.com.au it’s important that we cater to all demographics of sharers as we’re not just a site that’s targeted towards millennials or students,” he said.

“Across all of the age groups on our site, most of them are sharing for the same reason – for the financial benefits that come with share housing.  However, there are some situations that are unique to older sharers. These members could be empty nesters who are asset rich but cash flow poor and have decided to rent out a room or those recently divorced who can’t afford to rent on their own or don’t want to rent alone.

“Companionship is still a strong reason for why many members choose to share”

American-based Freda Schaeffer knows all too well the benefits of shared living.

When her husband died, Freda was left in her three-bedroom Brooklyn home alone.

“I was lonely,” she told The New York Times.

She was also concerned about paying the bills, because “there’s a lot of expenses in a house”.

The answer to Freda’s concerns was a home-sharing program operated by the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens which paired people with extra living space who were seeking company or help with household chores, with people searching for affordable housing.

She’s since been using the service for nine years to fill her spare bedroom, and in that time, has found a number of carefully-selected house guests, through a strict screening process.

The most recent is Tom Logan, who has now been renting Freda’s spare bedroom for over a year.

Tom had recently relocated from California and found that his disability payments didn’t go far in New York, where the cost of housing is infamously high.

“I needed a place to stay, or I could be homeless,” he told The New York Times.

The pair are now inseparable.

“Freda and I are family now,” Tom said. “We need each other.”

Back on home soils, there is a growing trend towards senior homeowners renting out their spare rooms to younger people.

“We found that the majority of members over 50 are using our services to rent out their spare rooms or their properties,” Caddy said.

“Home share scenarios seek to match community members who are in need of companionship and who have a spare room, with people who are in need of a place to stay.

“The most common match we’ve seen is elderly members who want to remain independent and living in their own home with university students who might not be able to afford a full rent.”