Latest Trend in Senior Housing: Roommates
As housing prices climb, seniors wanting to save money are on the lookout for roommates. The trend is especially catching on among single senior women.
“Senior housing organizations across the nation are reporting a surge in demand from the young and old alike to move into the spare rooms of lonely and often lower-income elderly home owners,” realtor.com® reports. “This provides the home owners with the money and companionship they need to maintain and manage to stay in their homes, instead of moving in with family or into a nursing home.”
Read more: Shared Living Options for Seniors
Linda Hoffman, president of the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens, says the trend is creating affordable housing and preventing homelessness among the senior population.
The New York Foundation for Senior Citizens has a database that tries to match house hunters and seniors. When a match is made, the parties meet with a social worker, chat on the phone, and then have an in-person meeting to see if there’s a connection.
“It’s like a date,” Hoffman says of the initial meeting.
The New York Foundation for Senior Citizens places about 80 to 100 people annually. Hoffman says that as monthly rents rise, demand for a roommate is rising too.
About 43 percent of Americans over the age of 45 surveyed say they would get a roommate to help out with chores, according to a 2014 AARP survey of more than 1,000 participants. What’s more, 26 percent said they would move in with a roommate in order to supplement their income.
Source: “Seniors Seeking Roommates: ‘Golden Girls,’ Please Apply,” realtor.com® (June 15, 2016)
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