Senior home sharing is a rather new form of senior living, and as an alternative method of living, it is showing some potential for helping elderly folk have better lives. The concept is pretty simple, actually. A few elderly folk move into a home together. It’s not an assisted living facility as it’s not a managed, institutionalized type of care. Rather, seniors get a house and live together. Care is often needed at some point, but it’s not a mandatory requirement. If all of the people living are able bodied and safe to be on their own, this is something that can be skipped. It depends on the unique situation that is created.
Who does this work best for? Senior home sharing is best for those elderly individuals that want to be as independent as possible, but also see the benefit of living with others. When several people live together, the cost of living goes down. Electricity and gas bills are split, food and grocery costs go down per person, and even senior care can become easier. For example, instead of each person in the home needing to find and pay for their own in-home caregiver, they are able to hire fewer caregivers. And although the cost will more than likely be more expensive per caregiver, per person, the price is likely to be cheaper in most cases. In the end, a lot of things happen with this method of care that don’t happen anywhere else. They have extra companionship, they have adequate care, and they have an extra degree of freedom that they wouldn’t have under the setting of an assisted living facility or nursing home.
There are drawbacks to senior home sharing. For one, it assumes that the seniors living together are all in good health. If one or more of the residents are not healthy, this type of living situation can become far more costly and stressful. The companionship provided with having peers living together becomes more of a chore, and this can have a drag down effect on the others. Extra care may be needed, and this drives up costs, especially if they are being split evenly. There’s also the potential for disagreements over cost sharing, and this can lead to bitterness and extra problems.
Yes, there are some good things coming out of home sharing, but there are many kinks that still need to be worked out for this to become a mainstream source of senior living. For now, it’s a novelty, but it is helpful for some. If you have a loved one that you think might benefit from a living situation like this, it’s perfectly okay to look into it. Just make sure that their true best interests are being served and be careful to do what’s right. Not everyone will benefit from this, and although some seniors may want this for themselves, that doesn’t mean that it’s actually the best thing for them. This is yet another reason why knowing what each of your options are when it comes to senior care.
Leave a Reply