You and Yours. House Sharing When Older

BBC Radio 4 You and Yours programme looks at house sharing when older. Presenter Shari Val speaks to Suzanne and Nick. Listen to this 8 minute radio segment at timepoint 12.26 on this BBC Sounds recording using the link below.

Suzanne is 62 and lives in London. She has two younger lodgers (30s) as it enables her to live the life she wants to. She talks about privacy and some of the difficulties of having friends come to stay, as well as the more familiar challenges of sharing a kitchen. She emphasises that when sharing with people you really do need to meet them and she outlines how she manages the space in her house to make things easier.

Nick Henley, Co-founder at Cohabitas, is then asked to explain the reasons that people over 40 are looking for house shares. He explains that some people house share ‘unintentionally’, due to a change of personal circumstances, whereas others share intentionally because of their financial needs or because they like the social side of it.

He also highlights how loneliness becomes an increasing issue for older people living on their own and how a house share can be a solution, despite us becoming more set in our ways as we grow older. Finding the right people is the most important factor for a longer-term house share and that is what Cohabitas emphasises when you register on the site as a housemate.

Listen to the BBC Sounds recording of You and Yours