For senior citizens, issues surrounding housing can often present challenges that can be quite distressing. Obstacles to maintaining housing are many, and can include ailing health, financial constraints and maintenance that becomes overwhelming. Many have lived in their homes for several years and have no desire to move, but for these reasons and more, the option of continuing to live alone is no longer viable.

Several agencies have stepped in to provide a service to the growing elderly population that solves, not only their housing problems, but other age related concerns as well. These agencies help place people in home sharing programs. Using careful screening processes, agencies place compatible people in homes with people who have extra room. They split the costs of living, burdens of maintenance and provide each other with much needed company.

Demand for this service only grows as the baby boomer population ages. The agencies that meet the demand place people who are searching for a home with people who wish to keep their homes but no longer wish to live alone.

Applicants go through a screening process that ensures not only the safety of both parties, but the compatibility. Background checks are conducted and lifestyle preferences, such as smoking habits or keeping pets, are taken into account before a person is placed in a home. Once a match is made, contracts are signed that cover specific stipulations in the agreement, such as rent, household responsibilities and visitor arrangements.

Processes like this are safer than relying on internet-based personal ads inquiring about roommates because they offer control over who responds.

House sharing programs offer more than just financial and housing stability. They prevent isolation, which can have extreme ramifications in elderly populations. Research has shown that remaining socially active has major protective benefits on cognition as a person ages. Having someone in the house to help with emergencies, which can range from falling to having a stroke, is invaluable to many people as it can mean the difference between timely interventions and days of suffering or even death.