Senior Spotlight: Have You Considered A ‘Boommate’?
A leading Baby Boomer home sharing platform reports 2-3x increase in search activity in 2022.
If you have been following our Senior Spotlight for some time, you know that we’ve been following several newer aging housing options. One of those is home sharing – also called finding a ‘boommate’. This term refers to older adults (typically Baby Boomers) seeking a housemate to share expenses with. This may involve sharing one’s own home or moving into a home or apartment together in which costs, tasks of daily living and home responsibilities can be shared.
While the boommate trend emerged a few years ago, the popular platform Silvernest reports a double to triple increase in interest in this concept in the first half of 2022 (as reported by PBS). The most likely driving force: inflation. Financial pressures have taken a toll on those already living on a very tight budget; the rising cost of living has impacted virtually all of us, but required significant changes for retirees especially.
Jennifer Molinsky, Project Director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at the JCHS at Harvard reveals that “Twenty years ago, it was about 1 percent of older adults were house-sharing with a nonrelative. Today, it's over a million older adults, more than double the number in that time."
The benefits of home sharing for older adults are far greater than financial: connection, comfort & friendship. Thus, while the financial benefits of a roommate later in life can be calculated, the lesser expected advantages can be immeasurable.
If you think that home sharing could be right for you, there are many resources to help.
| NOLO provides an overview of the home share process and considerations for an equitable agreement.
| AARP published this article in 2019 which discusses organizations around the country that connect older homeowners with younger tenants.
| Silvernest & Senior Homeshares are two companies that offer housemate matching programs.
| The National Shared Housing Resource Center provides a program directory with listings by state.
(*Please know that this article is for informational purposes only. If you decide to proceed with a roommate matching or program application of any type, please proceed with caution in any financial or personal information that you provide. Unfortunately, scammers are abound in every industry and seniors are a highly targeted population.)
Cheers to living your best life – with any roommate or boommate you choose!
Bobbi
Bobbi Decker
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