Solving housing and senior problems in a fell swoop, by Katherine Rivard

Most people have a “bad roommate” story—an out-of-control college bunkmate, a Craigslist find gone wrong, or even a friendship that soured once shared chores came into the mix. But there are also plenty of happy pairings that go unreported. These pairings are critical in New York City, where affordable housing is hard to find; sharing a space can mean the difference between an apartment being affordable or breaking the bank.

Recognizing the potential for home sharing to address both financial concerns and the mental health challenges of living alone, the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens (NYFSC) created the Home Share program over 40 years ago. It provides a free matching service for interested parties. Trained social workers consider personality types, living needs, and values before carefully pairing “hosts” who have available space in their apartments, with “guests” that are seeking housing. Hosts and guests aged 18 or over are welcome to apply, though each pair must include at least one person aged 60 or older.

A practical plan
In June, New York State unveiled a Master Plan for Aging, which lists home sharing as one of many types of solutions to help solve the need for affordable secure housing, and yet NYFSC’s program is the only of its type in New York City. When the program started in 1981, it largely sought to provide older residents with camaraderie, but increasingly, it also serves an important resource in helping guests find affordable housing and hosts stay in their apartments thanks to supplemental income. At its start, the program was coordinated by a single worker who also split her time working on another program. The goal was to make 10 matches, or to place 20 people, a year. Since then, the program’s budget and staffing have barely grown, but this past fiscal year, NYFSC created 100 successful matches.

Dan Yafet and Alan Ferber were successfully matched through the Home Share Program a few years ago. Yafet, 69, is a thin, soft-spoken employee in an architect’s office. Divorced with adult children, he decided to look for a roommate to fill the second bedroom in his Fort Greene apartment and to provide additional income. After searching online, he came across the Home Share program and decided to give it a try. He completed the application, which required basic information and references, and after two other potential matches fell through (one never showed and a second found other housing), he was paired with Alan Ferber.

Ferber, according to most everyone who speaks with him, is a charmer. At 87, he has retired from a long career in sales and now works a few days each week at a senior center. Raised in Brooklyn, he moved away for college, and bounced between Manhattan and New Jersey, before moving to Brooklyn Heights after his marriage ended.

Hidden benefit—Parking!
Although he still visits his former neighborhood, he focuses on the silver lining of his new place with Yafet—a plethora of parking: “Parking the car is wonderful. Night and day from Brooklyn Heights, where you can kill yourself trying to get a spot.” He’s also aware of the astronomical rents in Brooklyn Heights that make the neighborhood impossible for most people to live in: “They’re ripping people’s hearts out with their rents.” For now, both housemates agree that the match has worked well and they don’t intend on making any moves.

As the City struggles to create more affordable housing, policies that preserve affordable housing and programs like this one that provide new housing sources are drastically needed. The Home Share program is free and relatively easy to apply to online at www.nyfsc.org/home-sharing. Before ending our call, I asked Ferber if he had any suggestions for how to be a good housemate. He chuckled as he gave his recommendation: “Keep to yourself. Really, don’t get involved in conversations that are meaningless that will come back and bite you… I’ll say ‘Have a good day,’ if I see you in the morning. I’ll say “Enjoy,’ There’ll be conversation. But any drama? It’s unnecessary.”