Home Sharing – Is it for you? Charlotte Today

Home Sharing Catching On!

Many baby boomers have a real desire to age in their own home, provided they are capable and it is safe. But sometimes the economic realities, the need for companionship and socialization, and even help around the house makes you want to consider a more formal senior community. Home sharing provides an alternative.

More than 13 million people older 65 live alone, elder orphans. The number of older Americans who are homeless is growing too. In 2007, homeless people 62 and older who sought shelter accounted for 2.9 percent of the country’s homeless population. By 2016, the percentage had risen to 4.7

Sometimes it takes the form of simply renting a bedroom to someone in your home. But the ideal situation is when the home sharer helps with specified tasks, which could include shopping, preparing meals, walking the dog, gardening. Mutual support and companionship lie at the heart of home sharing. It could be in exchange for a smaller rent or no rent at all. It is by no means meant to replace formal home health caregivers.

According to AARP, four million women 50 and older were living in U.S. households with at least two women in the same age group. The real estate listings site Trulia estimates that there are 3.6 million unoccupied rooms that can be rented out in the country’s largest housing markets.