One of the most disturbing things is the number of scammers
and swindlers out there attempting to trap unsuspecting people desperately
seeking rental accommodations. This was addressed in a Courier story last fall by John Kurucz
and numerous other online articles.
A Vancity blogpost reported
that an estimated 51 per cent of renters in Vancouver and Victoria have
encountered a scam.
Given the high price of rental housing in Vancouver, especially
compared to Montreal, Stephanie contacted me because she was hoping to find an
affordable room in a house owned by another person.
During her internet searches, she came across a Courier column I wrote about the number of empty
bedrooms in Vancouver, and benefits of home-sharing, both for those seeking
housing and those owning homes with empty rooms.
According to Paul Smetanin of the Canadian Centre for
Economic Analysis (CANCEA),
the number of spare bedrooms in Vancouver is equivalent to 15 years of
construction at the current rate of building.
The challenge is to match those owning empty bedrooms or
basement suites, and willing to share, with those seeking affordable
accommodation.
Think of it as a VRBO or Airbnb but offering more permanent
housing.
While organizations and private companies have sprung up in
the United States to meet this demand, including Boston’s Nesterly, founded by a young
lady from Cortes Island, only limited options are available in Vancouver.
Last August, CBC’s Early Edition broadcast a five-part radio series produced by Amanda Poole titled
Roomies, which looked at various aspects of home sharing, including
multi-generational sharing. It examined both the economic and emotional
benefits that can arise, along with the challenges.
The series featured on-the-ground examples of shared living,
as well as one matchmaker service called Happipad. It was started
in the Okanagan in 2017 by a UBC student looking to match those with empty
bedrooms and student renters, and describes itself as a cross between Airbnb
and a dating site.
Happipad now serves all of B.C. through its home-sharing web
app. It currently has more than 30 live listings in Vancouver, and more
are popping up every week.
Happipad connects anyone with a spare room with those
looking for affordable accommodation options. It is not limited to
intergenerational connections between seniors and students, although these
connections do happen.
Happipad's newest initiative is #ConnectAMillion,
by which it hopes to connect a million seniors with compatible housemates by
2025 to tackle social isolation.
The CBC series included examples of relationships that
worked, and some that did not work, and explored the legal considerations of
entering what is essentially a landlord-tenant relationship.
The series concluded with an interview with a community
psychology consultant who has enjoyed intergenerational home sharing
relationships for over 30 years. He pointed out that while Vancouver’s zoning
bylaws do not prevent home sharing, they limit the number of unrelated people
who can legally share a dwelling.
Home sharing is not a new idea. In the 1980s, former
alderperson Marguerite Ford created HomeSharers that successfully matched
seniors until its CMHC funding dried up. Sadly, it did not continue.
On the North Shore, Joy Hayden of Hollyburn Family Services
has been working on a seniors' home sharing registry to match senior homeowners
with seniors and others seeking accommodation.
Over the phone, Stephanie sounded like a bright, intelligent
young lady. I referred her to Happipad but also offered to try and find her a
suitable place to live.
If any Courier reader has a home near the Canada Line, and
would consider renting to a flight attendant moving to our city, please write
to me and I will put you in touch with each other.
I would also like to hear about other home sharing
experiences, since given the number of empty bedrooms and people seeking
accommodations, home sharing seems like a practical idea whose time should
come.