Sharing Space to Age in Community: A Mixed-Methods Study of Homeshare Organizations

ABSTRACT

As adults age, they often require more assistance with personal care needs and other daily living activities. Along with requiring more assistance, access to affordable housing options is also a concern. Homesharing has emerged as a potential means of addressing these housing challenges for older adults. In this study, we surveyed 23 homeshare organizations and interviewed 16 survey respondents to understand characteristics of homeshare organizations, populations served, and the homeshare model. Findings suggest that homeshare organizations use a high-touch matching approach and that they experience challenges to sustainability. Individuals who enter a match are a small subset of those who apply due to organizational eligibility criteria and characteristics of applicants that impact their suitability for homesharing. While homesharing is a niche housing option that is not appropriate for many people, future research should explore whether homesharing fills gaps in housing options for older adults and the outcomes of homesharing.

KEYWORDS:

• Affordable housing
• homesharing
• instrumental activities of daily living

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Shared Housing Resource Center Board members for partnering in this study, Sarah Jordan for assisting with interviews, and Elizabeth Staton and Joanna Dukes for reviewing the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Rocky Mountain Regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The contents do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.