Sample Homesharing Situations

“Home providers” are a wide variety of people, of all different ages, who may own or rent their homes and have a spare room to share. What they have in common is that they want to continue living at home and are looking for help around the house and companionship. While the majority of home providers in our program are seniors, some are adults with disabilities and others are people who need no assistance, but are charging a rent of $400/month or less. Most home providers are relatively independent—they may need assistance with household chores, but can be safely left alone. Cooking, housekeeping, grocery shopping, laundry, yard work and/or snow shoveling assistance are some typical needs. Home providers often want an overnight “protective presence” in the house. 

Some examples of our home providers:

• John, a retired professional in his 80s, needs some assistance with housekeeping and laundry, and possibly yard work. He has lots of interests and would enjoy an engaging housemate to share occasional meals and go on outings together. He would charge $200/month in rent/utilities.
• Sally, a retired librarian in her 60s, loves crafts and new recipes. Her Parkinson’s disease has worsened, and she is looking for help with grocery shopping, housekeeping and cooking (about 4 meals/week), as well as companionship at home and on outings. She also needs help taking out recycling and garbage and feeding her cat. She charges no rent, and $75/month toward utilities.
• Faye, a woman in her 90s, needs an overnight presence, help with housekeeping, occasional cooking and light snow shoveling. She enjoys watching Jeopardy and Red Sox games and looks forward to having a companion to share these evening activities. She charges no rent in exchange for 10-15 hours/week of assistance.
• Jane, a former ESL teacher and an active, community-minded woman in her 40s, has MS and needs some household assistance. She is looking someone to walk her dog each day, help with housekeeping, errands and lawn-mowing. In exchange for about 10 hours/week of assistance, she charges $100/month in rent/utilities.
• Mandy, a woman in her 40s, works full-time but could use some added income from rent. She asks $400/month to share her condo and needs no assistance from a homesharer besides contributing their share of the housekeeping.