Affordable shared housing available through new Washtenaw Housing Alliance program

A new Washtenaw Housing Alliance program aims to address housing affordability concerns by matching housing seekers with people who have available private space in their homes, either for rent or under a non-monetary agreement.

The Shared Housing Program, launched last summer, is partly modeled on the Michigan Medicine Housing Bureau for Seniors‘ HomeShare Program, which ended in 2020. The program is funded by Enterprise Community Partners, the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, and an anonymous donor. The program is looking for both home providers and home seekers who are then guided through a matching process. Both providers and seekers submit an inquiry form at Whalliance.org/sharedhousing to start the roommate matching process.

The program can serve any household; however, the funding that supports the program requires at least one of the participants in each shared housing match be age 55 or older. Typically, home providers are 55 or older, while home seekers must be 18 or older.

“On one side, we’re looking for home providers: a homeowner with extra space in their home to be able to offer a private living space,” says Amanda Carlisle, executive director of Washtenaw Housing Alliance. “This would include a private bedroom and extra space the home provider isn’t using. The person might be an older adult, an empty nester, or someone otherwise in transition in their life.”

On the other side are people seeking affordable housing, but not emergency shelter. 

“They might be lower- to middle-income, willing to be in an intergenerational living environment, and might want something quieter,” Carlisle says.

Home providers submit information about how the arrangement will work for the home seeker, and home seekers share information about what they’re looking for.

“Home providers can decide if the arrangement is based on extra income in exchange for the room, or if there are services in exchange for a typical rent payment,” Carlisle says. “It could be that someone is looking for an extra set of hands for lawn care, home care, or grocery shopping. But this is not a personal care or medical care program.”

Through the initial inquiry form, the Washtenaw Housing Alliance collects basic information about housing providers’ and seekers’ needs. Then the program coordinator connects with them about their timeline, start date, housing arrangements, and what they need. The next step is a matching questionnaire that goes into detail about how each person lives, what home providers expect of a home seeker, etc.

Once home providers and seekers are matched, there is an interview where they can ask each other questions. If everyone is happy with the arrangement, a housing agreement is established to protect both parties in similar ways to a lease.

“We’re trying to add another option for affordable housing in the community that uses the existing housing stock,” Carlisle says. “It’s expensive to build new, so we’re trying to provide a more immediate next step toward affordable housing and using those empty bedrooms we know are in the community and match people up.”