As I interview people sharing houses, I notice a generational shift about sharing housing. The folks who came of age in the late 60’s and after, are more comfortable with the idea that the WWII generation. This makes sense. The WWII generation came of age when marriage, 4 children families, and a stay-at-home mom were the norm.
These folks, now in their eighties (more or less) just have a harder time imagining how it would be to have someone, not in their family, live with them. They simply didn’t have any experience of group homes in their formative years. And yet maybe this elderly person needs the informal social exchange that I think is so valuable in sharing housing. How important is it to have someone to say “good morning,” “good night,” and “how was your day?” I think it can be very important. I remember my elderly great aunt who lived in a big house in Washington DC by herself. She had no social life, all her friends had died. She talked daily with her sister, my grandmother who lived in New York City. My aunt managed her loneliness by drinking. I wonder how different it would have been for her if she had shared her house so that there was life in it.
There are programs for matching seniors with younger people who offer work in exchange for rent. These programs are few and far between. And they are hard to set up – in part because the elderly are resistant to sharing their homes. I think they need to hear good stories of successful house sharing relationships. Do you have a story? Tell us.
