Young people to support elderly in return for housing help

Developed by the Big Lottery Fund and Lloyds Bank Foundation, the Home-share Programme will match young people searching for affordable accommodation with older people who have a spare room.

In return for housing, young people who take part in the scheme will be expected to volunteer around 10 hours of companionship and light domestic help for their host.

Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the Big Lottery Fund, said: “Through this partnership, we want to bring together people both young and old supporting them to lead more independent lives and to explore the opportunities home-sharing can offer.

“We will also use our specific pilots to test and learn the impact of opening up home-sharing to people such as carers, those with disabilities and those with learning difficulties.

“We want the evidence from these pilots to help others to develop sustainable solutions to high housing costs as well as offering support for independent living.”

The initiative is to be piloted in two areas by Age UK Oxfordshire and Novus Homeshare.

Of the £2m invested into the programme, Age UK Oxfordshire will receive £172,000 over a three-year period to match students and public sector workers in the city with the older population.

The charity will develop three basic models of short-term placements: academic year, term-time and long-term arrangements.

Novus Homeshare will receive £183,200 over a three-year period and aims to employ a business development manager with the aim of expanding the offer across London.

The funding will also support core running costs and marketing, and is intended to help expand the provision to more than 100 home-sharing relationships over five years, while becoming fully self-sustainable.

Paul Streets, chief executive of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, said: “Home-share brings young people and old people together in a really positive way so that the older person can retain their independence and the younger person can have somewhere affordable to live.”

The remaining funding will be used for further pilot schemes and to support the development and evaluation of the programme as a whole.