It is news to no one that Denver is in the midst of a housing crisis, a crisis that is even more pronounced for individuals needing affordable housing.
At the same time, metro Denver has one of the fastest growing senior populations in the U.S. Most of these seniors wish to age in place in their homes and community. However, Denver lacks enough supportive services to help this most vulnerable demographic which often struggles financially, physically or both.
Home sharing is one solution at a time when it seems there are very few. “Home sharing helps seniors to remain at home and age in their community while providing affordable housing to someone needing a place to live,” says Alison Joucovsky, founder of Sunshine Home Share Colorado.
Joucovsky spent the past 11 years developing and running a nationally recognized aging-in-place program for Jewish Family Service of Colorado. Despite her success, she became increasingly frustrated with the lack of solutions available to seniors.
“Every day people called needing help with housing, snow shoveling, homemaker services or rides. Many people feared becoming more isolated. It was time to look for alternative solutions,” Joucovsky says.
There are currently 64 nonprofit home-sharing programs across the U.S. Sunshine Home Share is based on a social service model which relies on research, best practices and multiple safety checks.
A social service intake is implemented by staff before the process of matching for compatibility and living style begins. Then, before move-in, Sunshine staff help create an agreement of services exchanged for affordable rent. The last step is the brokering of a living agreement contract. The result is quality, long-lasting matches.
“Our goal is to make safe and thoughtful matches using a thorough vetting process,” Joucovsky says.
Sunshine Home Share Colorado is currently looking for senior Home Providers who would like to share their homes. Once Sunshine establishes a critical mass, the process will open up to Home Seekers. For more information, call Alison at 303-915-8264, email her at sunshinehomeshare@gmail.com or visit her website at sunshinehomeshare.org.
