At 47, Cordelia Jones found herself living in an environment that didn’t feel safe. She was recovering from an unhealthy marriage and not sure where to go next. When a friend told her about the “homesharing” program of Baltimore’s St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center Inc., which helps match homeowners who have extra space with people in need of a place to live, Jones knew it was an option worth considering. As it turned out, homesharing changed her life.

After an initial screening, background check and in-person interview, Jones received a list of five homeowners who might be a good match. She hit it off with one of the homeowners immediately. “It was as if we were supposed to connect,” Jones says. The home was peaceful, clean and organized, yet felt lived in. “It was like coming to a place where my heart could heal, where I could grow and mature—and save money.” Jones set up the basement as a cozy suite, with a sitting area where she could retreat when she needed time alone as she adjusted to life after her marriage ended—a need the homeowner understood because it was one of the things they talked about prior to Jones moving in.

Through home sharing from January 2006 until October 2007, Jones was able to save enough money to buy a home of her own. Now 50, she plans soon to join the other side of St. Ambrose’s homesharing program—as a home provider—because she feels it’s her turn to give. Without homesharing, she believes she would still be renting and trying to make ends meet today. “I would not have been able to purchase my home. I would not feel as empowered as I am, and I would still be playing catch up.”

Sharing living space is something many women—and men—consider as they get older, for camaraderie, as well as financial benefits. Besides homesharing, options include living in a cooperative home that features a combination of private and group space, and varying degrees of sharing meals, finances and decision-making. Another option, for those looking more for community than economy, is cohousing, where residents in a neighborhood of private homes also share common property such as a kitchen, dining room, laundry facilities and guest rooms that can be reserved.

HOMESHARING
Homesharing is generally a one-on-one arrangement negotiated with the aid of an agency such as St. Ambrose, which completes about 60 matches a year. Most of St. Ambrose’s arrangements last less than a year, says Annette Brennan, director of the agency’s homesharing program, but a few have gone on as long as five or even eight years. Because there may be gaps of time with no suitable renters, homeowners are cautioned not to rely on the income for mortgage payments or other ongoing expenses. Many homeowners, however, have found the extra money helps cover home maintenance and improvement costs.

About three-quarters of St. Ambrose’s home providers are women; home-seekers are about evenly divided between men and women. In fact, some homeowners prefer to rent to men, because they like having an extra helping hand from time to time. Senior homeowners may even want to negotiate that as part of the rental agreement.

The average age of St. Ambrose’s home sharers is between 55 and 60. Some homeshare agencies, such as the Housing Bureau for Seniors in Ann Arbor, Michigan, require that at least one person in the match be older than 55. Since its homeshare program started in 1983, there have been several intergenerational matches and even some matches where a couple lives with an older adult, or a young student rents from an older couple.

Homeshare programs may charge a nominal application fee of $5 to $15, and an additional fee of up to $125 if a match is made. Fees may vary depending on factors such as age, income and residency. Background checks may be performed to weed out participants with criminal or drug histories; some agencies require personal references. Agencies may offer counseling or mediation before and during the match, covering topics such as meal-sharing, chore expectations and problem-solving styles.

COOPERATIVE HOUSING
Unlike shared housing where one person owns a home and another pays to live there, cooperative housing—or co-ops—comprise a group of people on equal footing living in a combination of private space and shared space. For example, each person may have his or her own room and bathroom, but share a kitchen, dining room and living room. Often, food costs are shared, and family-style meals are a big part of the appeal of cooperative living.

“One of the biggest draws for us is the sense of community,” says Gabriel Heck, members services coordinator of the Madison Community Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin, a nonprofit corporation that oversees 11 houses with about 200 members. Community spirit extends to meals, household chores and decision-making. Residents of each house—the numbers range from seven to 35—work out a system of jobs. For example, each person may be required to work three hours a week on chores ranging from cleaning to shoveling snow to collecting rent checks. One resident’s chores would include keeping track of who signs up for which jobs each month. House meetings are conducted every week or two to deal with issues as they arise, and each house has one or two representatives on a board of directors.

“The whole idea is to work together,” Heck says. Madison Community Cooperative has a staff of three, but “we don’t have to do a lot of things that a property management company would do.”

Residents are about evenly divided between men and women and range in age from their teens to their 50s. Some houses are close to college campuses, Heck says; the farther away from a college, the older the residents tend to be. Although membership is open to all, the cooperative’s focus is on serving people of low to moderate income.

The availability of cooperative housing varies widely from one state to another. The laws in some states—such as Wisconsin and Minnesota—actually make them more conducive to co-ops.

COHOUSING
If you like the idea of having other people around you, but without so much sharing of your space, then cohousing might be an appealing concept. Unlike homesharing or cooperative housing where day-to-day life is shared with other people, cohousing involves a planned neighborhood of private residences and a “common house” that typically includes a homey kitchen with some commercial features, a dining area large enough to accommodate all the residents, and guest rooms that can be reserved. There may also be a sitting room or den, workshop, playroom, exercise rooms and laundry facilities. Often, single-family homes are clustered to maximize shared open space.

Cohousing started in Denmark and was introduced to the United States in the 1980s. Today, nearly 100 cohousing communities have been completed and dozens more are in various stages of planning and development. Most of the communities are intergenerational; a few are elder cohousing communities specifically designed for older adults, either separate or in conjunction with an intergenerational community.

By definition, future residents of cohousing neighborhoods participate in the design process, according to the Cohousing Association of the United States. The neighborhood is designed to encourage a sense of community and residents share in maintaining common areas and solving problems, but there is no shared economy like would be found in a commune. Instead of sharing meals on a daily basis, residents may sign up to attend a shared meal every few days or every few weeks.

It’s a lifestyle that has suited Joani Blank, 70, for the past 16 years. Blank has always been comfortable sharing her living space—first in a co-op dorm in college, later as a young married adult by renting space in her home to single parents to provide companionship for her only child. Now, Blank lives in Swan’s Market, a 20-unit urban cohousing community in a historic market building in the San Francisco Bay area.

“We maintain the property and community life ourselves,” Blank says.
Residents have ongoing jobs such as meal preparation, and everyone participates in at least four of the monthly workdays every year. Decisions about issues from building improvements to pet policies are made by an established consensus process that provides for committees, proposals and discussions. Residents leave books, clothing and kitchen gadgets they no longer need on a “take-away” table in the garage.

Blank points out that what makes the cohousing lifestyle wonderful also makes it challenging: “You know your neighbors really, really well.” Still, she’s an enthusiastic fan. “There’s this little problem with retirement communities: Everyone else there is old, too,” she says. “I think intergenerational cohousing is a great place to grow old.”

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