Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Find Me a House (to Share!)
November 4, 2021
by Jody Moss, Olympic Area Agency on Aging
Maybe you have heard of OkCupid, Match.com, eHarmony or even Plenty of Fish. Swipe right is the language of accepting a date today. Or maybe you have heard of Airbnb for vacation housing.
Well, what if you could do that to find a roommate or to find a place to rent?
Of course you can, or I would not be writing this article.
Just in case you are not familiar with the above-mentioned dating sites, these are “Apps” (or internet technology applications) where people sign up on their phones or computers. You register and create a profile for yourself. Then, if you see someone’s profile that interests you and you like their look, you can send out an invitation to get to know one another better.
A family member, and two young friends met their spouses this way and they are very well matched. So the matching process that good technology can produce can be highly successful.
Now, back to housing…You may have heard that there is a severe housing pinch made worse by the pandemic. Generally, people move around. But no one or very few people have moved since the beginning of the pandemic. And more people are interested in moving into rural areas from the cities, especially with more remote work options available to them. Because of all of this, people who are looking for housing to rent or buy are finding none, zero, nada.
At the same time, our housing and living expenses are going up and up and up.
And technology has a possible solution. It is called Shared Housing. Shared Housing is defined as two or more people who live in one housing unit, sharing costs associated with maintaining housing such as rent and utilities. It increases housing options for more people. Shared Housing supports financial stability for people of all ages. It helps to address loneliness. And can help us feel more connected to one another.
You can arrange to rent space in your own home using two particular apps which national housing advocates note are well done and make an effort to create good matches for housing mates, with some guard rails addressing safety and a quality process – Silvernest and Nesterly. This is not about dating or relationships beyond friendship. This is about figuring out who would fit with you in a house sharing situation…who would you get along with, what are your habits that may work with another person’s habits, your interests, what you would want in the people who might live with you.
So why might you want to share your home with strangers? Well, lots of reasons.
As a homeowner these may be good reasons to consider sharing housing:
- You have a fair-sized home with bedrooms that are empty and there is a need in the community for rentals.
- You are finding the expenses of maintaining your home or just plain living expenses are becoming challenging to keep up with.
- You would like the company a roommate provides.
- You feel isolated living outside the city (or maybe even inside the city) as you age and a roommate would just make you feel safer.
- You are a gregarious individual and sharing your home would suit you.
- You are finding that you need a little more help around the house and perhaps a younger individual or family living could help.
- You would love to have younger people in your life, but your kids do not live nearby.
- You would feel more connected with another person in the home.
As a renter, you may be have similar reasons for sharing housing but there is also a really significant issue, and that is that there are almost no single housing units for rent.
As a person working in the field of serving older adults, housing is one of the biggest issues we hear repeatedly. We just went through research for an Area Plan Update (posted on our website – www.03a.org), and loneliness and housing surfaced as big issues. It is one of the most frequent calls our Information & Assistance staff receive. Housing is unaffordable and there is not enough of it.
Because of our research and the needs expressed by older adults, we have gotten involved with a network of county, city, economic development, community-based organizations and concerned community members and learned about housing issues. Here is the biggest problem…we cannot build our way into having enough affordable housing units.
Shared housing is a real opportunity. And our County Commissioner representatives on the Council of Government (Olympic Area Agency on Aging’s governing body) have approached us about promoting Shared Housing. So have a Port Angeles City Council member, Olympic Medical staff, and I suspect if they knew we were exploring housing, many other leaders in Clallam and Jefferson (and probably other counties we serve as well), would urge us to do more.
So this is me taking a small step towards doing more…that is introducing you all to this concept and telling you about these apps. Warning…there is one listing in our local region on these Apps, even Seattle appears to not have much of a presence yet. But it is just a matter of time before this idea catches on in our region. I am hoping that by sharing these matching services with all of you, that some readers may opt to see if it works for them. And if that happens, our housing affordability just got better.
www.Silvernest.com – Silvernest is a secure site that is designed with seniors in mind. Compatibility is built in the process, giving you a compatibility score on how well you match people seeking homes. Background checks are available. Silvernest has unique insurance that provides coverage designed for home sharing. Silvernest uses a state-specific lease builder that lets you customize the right terms for you. And it has a system for built in automated payments that make monthly rent easy and hassle-free. There is a 5% fee that is automatically applied once you have a housing match for the length of the lease. Silvernest is just beginning and appears to have great potential.
www.Nesterly.com operates very similarly and is designed with an intergenerational component matching people of all ages. It has an added feature of asking for task exchange (excluding personal care services) that can result in reduced rent and help for you in your home, like cleaning, maybe some housing upkeep or yard maintenance. Nesterly also offers an option for shorter term home sharing, with at least a minimum of a one month rental. Perhaps you want to try out a home sharing arrangement but want only a shorter term commitment. There is a onetime booking fee of $95 – $195 depending on the length of stay and again is automatically paid out of the rent. Nesterly also charges an ongoing fee of 2.5% of the rent for as long at the platform is used. For example, you final a housemate match and use the system for a 6 month lease. If everything works well and you decide to extend the agreement longer term, you can work off the platform to create a lease, and payment arrangements. There is a possibility that Nesterly cannot randomly operate in a new place unless our region is added. There are no current listings, but it cannot hurt to register and see if you get any matches.
These are just two options for Shared Housing. There are agencies around the country that make these kinds of arrangements for particular housing needs. Some Shared Housing is a means of addressing homelessness or avoiding homelessness. Some address aging out of foster care or other youth initiatives. These programs need to have a strong case management component and protections for the at risk populations that are matched to share housing.
There are other Shared Housing options that could be developed. Hospitals in our region have traveling professional staff to help fill specialized services or shortages in staffing. Olympic Medical Center is actively looking for housing for staff who visit for shorter periods of time. Jefferson Healthcare may have an equal interest. If you have some interest in sharing your home in these circumstances, please contact me at the number or email below.
The two platforms (or Apps) I’ve mentioned are not for at-risk populations. They are intended for people who have a stable income and need help finding housing and are interested in Shared Housing options. It’s not for everybody. But it could be for you. Knowing what you need in a housemate is as important as attributes for who you might date, so check these sites out and see if they might be a good fit for what you are looking for to fill your housing needs.
Jody Moss is the Director of Contracts Management & Planning for the Olympic Area Agency on Aging and can be reached at 360-379-5064 or jody.moss@dshs.wa.gov. For help with senior or adults with disability questions call Information and Assistance at 360-452-3221 in Clallam and 360-385-2552 in Jefferson.