Affordable senior housing is a barrier to many older adults in the community and Senior Home Sharing seeks to help. Senior Home Sharing currently owns two group homes housing seniors in a comfortable residential setting. The homes are staffed by a house manager to cook their meals and a residential life coordinator working to enhance the seniors’ social engagement. The seniors pay a monthly rent that is far below the market rate and includes the cost of their food and utilities. The vision is to utilize expertise to support seniors through the many changes they face, allowing them to age in place as long as possible.
How did Senior Home Sharing get started?
In 1981 founder Mary Eleanor Wall recognized the growing need for affordable senior housing and started Senior Home Sharing. Over the years, the group has owned several homes and helped over 600 seniors with housing options that allowed them to stay in their community. This means that over 657,000 meals have been served to residents at their kitchen tables. In addition to serving senior residents the organization has provided countless family members with the peace of mind that their loved one is in a safe, comfortable, and affordable living situation.
Providing a positive aging experience, reducing loneliness, and mental health services
Senior Home Sharing is more than just living together.. Good health, financial security, and feeling useful are common denominators of a positive aging experience. Being connected to friends, family and continuing to learn and navigate relationships with fellow residents help those served to avoid the loneliness and uncertainty that living alone can bring.
To further support the needs of older adults, Senior Home Sharing started an in-home counseling program where a licensed social worker supports residents, as well as any senior in DuPage county, with convenient, at-home, confidential and affordable mental health services. Changes in living situations, abilities, or grief can make one feel lost, sad, invisible, or misunderstood, but the counseling program means that seniors have resources to handle these challenges.
The demand for affordable senior housing is greater than the supply
The demand for affordable housing that meets the needs of older adults far outweighs the supply. Beyond simply building more affordable housing, Senior Home Sharing seeks to raise the standards of daily living, community support, and social engagement.
