Could This Bottom-Up Method to Address the Housing Crisis Work Where You Live Too?

Your town is probably home to two distinct groups of people: One is aging folks who own their homes but can no longer afford to fully care for them and have empty rooms from children who have long since moved out. Another group is single people who don’t have a lot of money and don’t require a lot of space, but really need a place to call home. In addition to their housing challenges, both of these groups might also be facing periods of loneliness and isolation. What if there was a program that could match these two groups together for mutual benefit?

A few weeks ago, I reconnected with an old friend, Heather Domko, and heard about a fascinating program she’s running in Colorado called HomeShare. Based on a model that is used all over the world, this program connects older adults who own their houses and want to age in place with younger people who need an affordable room to rent. Not only does this arrangement help maintain home ownership, keep neighborhoods stable and create opportunities for affordable housing—it also builds friendships and connections that might not otherwise have occurred. It’s a bottom-up method for addressing housing challenges while creatively using the assets that already exist in a place.

I interviewed Heather to learn more about this model, how the program works, and how it could be applied in other communities. Here’s our conversation.

Rachel: Tell me a little about the organization you work for—Neighbor to Neighbor.

Heather: Neighbor to Neighbor basically works on what we call the housing continuum. We own properties and operate affordable housing units. There’s another program for homelessness prevention where we provide rental assistance for people that are struggling to pay rent, or people that are trying to move into a new apartment. We also have programs on the homeownership side of the continuum. We have a first time homeowner education program […] and then we also have counselors that do foreclosure prevention counseling. 

Rachel: What’s Fort Collins like? Give us a picture of the city.

Heather: Colorado State University is here and the town pretty much revolves around CSU. Affordable housing is a major issue here, as it is in most places. The cost of rent, the cost of purchasing homes all over Colorado, but especially along the Front Range (from Fort Collins all the way to Colorado Springs) has just exploded. 

Particularly among the older adult population because they’re on a fixed income and rent keeps going higher and higher, but their income doesn’t go up. Joe [my husband] works for Catholic Charities and runs the homeless shelter. Between the two of us, we’re always talking about the cost of housing.

Rachel: So tell me about the program you run, HomeShare.

Heather: It’s a pretty new program to Neighbor to Neighbor. It came about because there’s an organization here called the Partnership for Age-Friendly Communities, which is basically a think tank—a bunch of older adults who come up with ways to better the community for older adults…They had done a lot of research and discovered this HomeShare model and thought it could be a good thing for the community. They approached Neighbor to Neighbor and asked if we could run the program. 

HomeShare has been in existence for two years. I have been working with it for a little less than a year and a half.  […] The way the program works is that we have Providers and Seekers. Providers are the people who have a room to rent in their home. In order to be a Provider in our program, you have to be over 55, you have to own your home, you have to have a room that you’re willing to rent out, and you have to live in Larimer County.  

In order to be a Seeker you have to be over 18, you have to have some kind of income coming in, and you have to be willing to be open and willing to be in relationship with the person you are going to be living with. 

The goals of the program are multiple. The main thing and why this program came into existence is to help older adults age in place. They own a home and this is to help them stay in their home as long as possible.   

The way the process works is there’s an online application and phone screen to determine eligibility. We’re looking for criminal convictions, safety concerns. Then I do an interview, usually in person (although now it’s all on the phone). Maybe half of it is “deal-breaker questions” like, Would you live with someone who smokes? Would you live with someone who has pets? But then I also ask a lot of other questions about what are you looking for, how would you describe yourself, how do you handle conflict, etc.

The goal is to help people find affordable housing and stay in their homes, but also to find a good match. On the provider side, a big reason people want to be part of it is for companionship—not necessarily a best friend who will hang out 24/7, but not just a roommate you find on Craigslist and never see. It’s a lot about the relationship you develop.

Once I have all the documentation, I start looking for a potential match. I will call them and tell them about the other person and the space. If they’re both interested, I schedule time to meet…I bring a list of questions to have them go through with each other.  Then I encourage people to meet again, have coffee, chat more...

There’s a requirement of a weeklong trial period. After the trial period, I check in to see how it went. The last thing I do is a living agreement. It’s not a lease. It’s more about how they’ll live together. We talk about how spaces are shared, who’s responsible for cleaning, etc. Then they can decide on move in. I provide support and follow-up afterward. I check in once a month for the first three months, then at six months and a year. I’m always available to help problem solve and mediate.

Rachel: Do the Seekers typically end up paying average rent for a room in a house (like you might find on Craigslist), or is it below-market?

Heather: It’s affordable compared to trying to rent a place on your own. I hear people all the time who are paying $1600, $1700 and up for a one-bedroom.  The lowest I’ve had people charge is $400 a month, and up to $800 is usually the highest. If I get a Provider that wants to charge $800+, I tell them they’ll be waiting for a long time because that’s typically what people will find on Craigslist for a room…

One of the things that can also happen is a service exchange where they charge a little less in rent in exchange for help around the home: cleaning, yard work, cooking, grocery shopping, etc.

Rachel: How many matches have you had over the course of the program?

Heather: We’ve had 120 people over the last two years who have applied and come through. Sometimes people move, or a background check doesn’t come through, or someone applies without income, or people find a roommate another way.

In the two years [of the program], we’ve had 12 matches come out of it. Right now, I’ve got 5 of them that are still together. Some were short-term things, like one was a visiting professor who was only here for a semester. One that recently ended, the Seeker had been on a waitlist for a senior affordable housing apartment, then her name came up on the list so she was able to move into the apartment.

Honestly the biggest challenge is pets. I get a lot of Seekers who have pets. A majority of Providers already have pets and don’t want to add to pets in the home, or they don’t have pets and never wanted them to begin with.

Rachel: I know HomeShare is a model that’s used all over the world. What programs did you learn from as you guys were getting started?

Heather: There were a couple programs we were close with and I ask questions of now. HomeShare Vermont is one. They’ve been around for 30 years. They really know what they’re doing.  They’re mostly volunteer run. 

HIP Housing in San Francisco was another one that we really modeled our stuff on. There’s another small one in Denver—Sunshine Home Share. They’re about a year and a half ahead of us. I went down there and have had a couple meetings with them…There’s also a National Shared Housing Resource Center, and HomeShare International.

Rachel: How could people apply this program or this general idea in their places? Would it take a lot of funding and dedicated staff to execute well, or do you think it could be done on a smaller scale?

Heather: The way that we’ve set up our program, it’s a lot of time: meeting people, introducing people, a lot of follow up… Trying to manage that plus outreach to get people into the program is tough. 

It can be done less intensive than we do it, though. I ask a lot of questions because I find it helps with getting better matches that are more successful. But that doesn’t meant it has to be done that way. It just depends on the population that’s interested in having it as a service and what they want from it. 

There’s a national website called Silvernest geared toward the older adult population. It’s a similar home-share idea where providers can list their homes, but it’s a little more structured than Craigslist, with safety checks in place. But you don’t meet with the person; it’s all done virtually. They provide some support, but not what we provide. They function with a minimal staff. 

I think there’s a lot of ways you could do it creatively, but you have to have people who want to do it on both ends: the community has to want, and you have to have people who will keep it going.

I meet with people all the time like the local interfaith council who say, “This is such a great idea…but I wouldn’t do it!” And I get it, but I always think it’s interesting.  It’s not the easiest thing to sell. It’s totally countercultural to folks. But, when it works, it works and it’s awesome.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Cover image via Pexels.

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