Arizona Opinion: What would Rose do? Senior home sharing helps fight homelessness

Nearly 40% of Arizona’s residents are over the age of 50, and the elderly population in our state is rapidly growing. With rising housing costs, many seniors on a fixed income are working to balance the cost of their rent/mortgage and other basic needs such as food or medical care. The pandemic has added to this despair as seniors are one of the most impacted groups who face feelings of isolation and the loss of loved ones.

At the Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH), we are constantly searching for ways to combat homelessness and expand affordable housing — especially for vulnerable populations like our seniors. Working with our partners, ADOH is supporting an increasingly popular housing option for older adults to help solve the issues of loneliness while reducing their housing costs significantly. It’s called home sharing.

In honoring the passing of the incomparable Betty White, we remember that home sharing is not a new concept. White’s popular ‘80s sitcom “Golden Girls” was based on four older women (including a mother-daughter pair) who share one house to reduce living costs. In the show, this arrangement created a unique opportunity for the “girls” to share experiences and build a stronger connection to each other. It can work that way in real life also.

Sharon Kha and Deborah Knox, co-founders of Tucson Home Sharing, have been living together for over five years now. While this arrangement was born out of necessity, to combine budgets and save money, their time together has changed their relationship into a friendship. And that’s the intrinsic value of home sharing.

When Kha began battling Parkinson’s disease, she knew living alone could be problematic, but the thought of moving into an assisted living facility was also not what she wanted. Some friends connected her with Knox, who was looking to downsize her living space and get out of a mortgage that was no longer affordable. The two women talked on the phone a few times and discovered many shared interests and the same basic need — an affordable home. The Tucson Golden Girls were a match!

Once they moved in together, both found exactly what they were looking for — not just affordable living, but a human connection to help navigate life’s ups and downs. Inspired by their own experience, Knox and Kha launched Tucson Home Sharing in 2021 to provide outreach, education and advocacy for senior home sharing. The organization provides public forums on the third Thursday of every month to help interested seniors discover the benefits of home sharing. You can learn about the group at tucsonhomesharing.org.

For many years there have been shared housing senior living programs across the nation, but Kha, Knox and ADOH want to help grow this resource for Arizona. With fundraising help from Kha and Knox, the Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) has created a pilot program to connect seniors who want to give home sharing a try. The program helps match people based on shared interests and PCOA conducts interviews and background checks and reviews properties before pairing seniors as roommates.

While seniors can still find a roommate organically, like Kha and Knox did, many do not know where to start. Tucson Home Sharing and the Pima Council on Aging are helping with that heavy lift of matching seniors with potential roommates.

Along with ADOH, Tucson Home Sharing and the Pima Council on Aging, there are national resources for those interested in this concept. The National Shared Housing Resource Center (NSHRC) is a network of independent nonprofit home-sharing programs across the United States. Through educational programs, the NSHRC raises awareness of the benefits of home sharing and encourages best practices.

There are many hands participating in the growth and popularity of home sharing, a smart tool to use as we work to develop more affordable housing in Arizona.