For more information, see the Insurance section. Shared Housing Under this option, an elderly person shares his or her home with someone else in exchange for rent or services. Services might include cleaning, cooking, transportation, yardwork or whatever is needed. Benefits include companionship, security and prolonged independence. Each person has his or her own bedroom and shares the common areas of the home.
Roommates negotiate such items as guests, household duties, kitchen use, privacy and telephone use.
Shared-housing programs, administered by local housing authorities and social service agencies, usually match up people for free. To do so, the staff usually interviews the elderly homeowner, collects and checks references and processes the application. Then, the organization gives referrals to possible housemates, who also have gone through a screening process. Before building such a unit, the property owner needs to check zoning laws with the planning department in that community and obtain the necessary permits if possible. Remodeling the caregiver s home to provide separate living quarters for the older person also is an option.