Senior Services for South Sound took the occasion of Tumwater’s celebration of the nonprofit’s golden anniversary to offer a solution for housing problems and seniors who need care.
According to Executive Director Brian Windrope, Senior Services’s Home Share program matches seniors looking to offer housing accommodations to people looking to rent.
Windrope said that their staff extensively interviews potential matches so that the senior housing provider works well with the person seeking accommodation.
The senior housing provider and the renter would need to agree that the renter would provide a certain level of support either through financial or household assistance in exchange for accommodation.
Windrope said that it is an extremely cheap way of renting as the average rent through the program is about $400 to $500 a month.
Asked by the city council about the status of their Home Share program, Windrope said that the program is out of its pilot phase and is now placing two renters per month as they expected at this point.
The problem they encounter now is that more seniors are willing to offer their houses than people seeking accommodation.
“We had thought that there would be a flood of people looking for housing and [that] we'd have a hard time finding people who had housing; it turned out to be the opposite,” Windrope said.
Windrope noted that the program is not suitable for most people experiencing homelessness due to possible issues and that the program targets a different population looking to find housing.
Interested community members can learn more from Senior Services for South Sound’s Home Share website.
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