What’s driving the interest in homeshare arrangements?

Our latest homeshare report gives an insight into the homeshare sector: What is driving an increase in arrangements, and who is benefiting from Homeshare, and how.

The homeshare sector provides a valuable service across the housing, and health and social care landscape - it has strong credentials and helps tackle some of the issues currently faced, as recognised in the recent Older People’s Housing Taskforce report, ‘Our Future Homes: Housing the promotes wellbeing and community for an ageing population’. Homeshare matches older people who have a spare room and need a helping hand around the home, with younger people who are looking for an affordable place to live and who are happy to donate a portion of their time each week to helping with day-to-day practical tasks around the home. However, the Taskforce also pointed out that there is a lack of research into homesharing in the UK. Therefore, this new report by Share and Care Homeshare is timely as it helps build the evidence base.

The primary driver for homeshare, as identified in our 2024 report, is memory issues with 35% of householders living with dementia or other memory loss, closely followed by poor mobility, which accounts for 30% of arrangements.  Other drivers for homeshare include Parkinson’s disease, sight issues, heart conditions, anxiety, loneliness, arthritis and being at risk of falls.  Often, there is more than one driver for seeking a homeshare arrangement, such as dementia coupled with loneliness.

The report also reveals that homeshare can significantly reduce the number of falls a householder might have; of the 40% of householders citing ‘falls risk’ as one of their drivers to homeshare, only 10% had a fall once they had a sharer living with them. With fewer falls there is a potential financial benefit to the NHS and other adult support services with a lower number of visits to a GP or hospital and a potential reduction in home care visits.

The average age of a householder is 85, and the oldest is 96, while the average age of a sharer is 42. 77% of older people in homeshare arrangements are female, 18% male, and 5% are couples.

The findings from our report further highlight the power of homeshare.  As our report illustrates, it’s a low-cost service that offers practical live-in help, reassurance and companionship.

There are wide-reaching benefits. Homeshare offers greater capacity for safe independent living and enables older people to live for longer in their own homes, and in their own communities.  It enables younger people to live in the areas in which they work or study, or simply would just like to live and are unable to afford. 

Over the years, Share and Care Homeshare has helped thousands of older people stay living independently in their own homes, and 96% of its householders report that homeshare has positively impacted their overall quality of life. 

We champion the broad impact of homeshare across housing, health and social care, and encourage professionals working in these sectors to ‘Think Homeshare!’ - ultimately it can help people across all generations thrive in so many ways. 

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Community Interest Company (CIC), Share and Care Homeshare, is the largest and most experienced provider in the UK and offers a bespoke nationwide service. For further information contact 020 3865 3398. email info@shareandcare.co.uk and visit www.shareandcare.co.uk (opens new window) or find us on Twitter @ShareandCareOrg (opens new window)

Find the full report here. And, if you found this of interest, access more information and resources on homesharing on the dedicated Housing LIN webpage.