It was the high cost of housing in Colorado Springs that originally brought roommates Kimberly Bolding, Ardene Hagadorn and Louis John Vastine together, but it’s the medical and financial support the arrangement provides that has them boasting that shared housing may be something that could work for other seniors as well.
The three share an apartment and connected through Sunshine Home Share, a nonprofit that matches older adults with extra space in their homes with residents in need of affordable rent, according to an article Tuesday in the Colorado Springs Gazette. Although each home sharing situation differs, some say this creative alternative to formal seniors housing could rise in popularity thanks to ongoing concerns about congregate settings due to COVID-19.
Often in the arrangement, renters agree to provide services — such as cooking, cleaning and yard work — as part of their housing contract, which can lower their bill, Alison Joucovsky, executive director of Sunshine Home Share, told the media outlet. Last year in Denver, Sunshine Home Share’s average rent was $400 with four to five hours a week of services, she said.
Launched in 2016 in Denver, the firm is based on a model that has been replicated across the country to help creatively solve the crunch for affordable housing for seniors, Joucovsky added.
Bolding, Hagadorn and Vastine have been living together for two months and have started a podcast, “Three’s Company Baby Boomers Bodacious,” to help educate other baby boomers about Home Share as an alternative to living in a facility.
