With a chronic national affordable housing shortage driving up housing prices, a new home share program in Waterloo region could help with more affordable housing options, in a unique way.
Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) began a home share program offering a free process bringing together ‘home seekers’ and ‘home providers’.
“We look at housing with a ‘restorative’ lens by offering a safe and decent housing through a relationship type system,” said Julie Friesen, director of programs at Community Justice Initiatives Waterloo Region.
CJI is a non-profit organization known world-wide for starting the first modern restorative justice program that addresses conflict and crime by engaging people who cause harm, people who were affected by harm, and the community.
During it’s 40 plus year history, the organization has responded to community needs by applying restorative justice principles to new problems. It provides services including conflict resolution, support for people impacted by sexual trauma, assistance for families involved with child protection, and reintegration support for adults returning to the community from prison or custody
“The home share program is just one example of how we can add to the affordable housing options in our community. It's one small idea of a much broader plan that our community desperately needs,” Friesen said.
“We are not a housing provider. We are not building housing and we do not search for housing," she said.
"We bring people together to see if it can work. It could be someone who owns their own home, has extra space, and needs some assistance to try to continue to live in that particular space. It might be folks who are saying that they want to rent an apartment, but they can’t afford it. We help build a relationship between folks that could work for them to potentially share rental space.”
Friesen says this can be one small step and an innovative and inexpensive way to address the critical shortage of affordable, decent, and safe housing without the need to build anything new.
“It’s environmental, it’s less expensive, you don’t have to wait for buildings to be built,” Friesen said.
Home share empowers home providers and home seekers with the ability to live in affordable, shared accommodation inclusive of respect, choice, dignity and is of mutual benefit to all.
Wendy Meek, elder mediation service coordinator at CJI, said that originally, the program was targeted at older adults who had a lack of housing stock available.
“The Cambridge Council on Aging had the idea of starting home share, and me being a member on the council, Community Justice Initiatives thought it could take this on,” Meek said.
The Bridges, an emergency shelter in Cambridge, has seen an increase of about 60 per cent of clients over the age of 55.
“That’s a huge increase from where we were two years ago,” said Sharon Livingstone, chair of the Cambridge Shelter Corporation.
Livingstone said evictions are a big issue today, especially with older adults.
Cambridge has one of the highest numbers of older women living in poverty and Livingstone said that there is a need for more emergency housing.
“Sometimes, that can be difficult. If the older adult has physical issues or complex medical issues, then that can make it even more challenging. There just isn’t enough supportive housing in Cambridge. The only supportive housing we have is the 20 units on the second floor of the Bridges,” Livingstone said.
“I see older people on the streets everywhere I go. Not everyone has family. Many don’t have that support.”
Livingstone says programs such as home sharing can help those with low incomes, a reason why CJI decided to create the program, to not just for elderly, but for all.
“We decided to open this up to other age groups as well because we just found that some older adults maybe want a younger person to live with them,” Meek said.
“Often older people might feel lonely or isolated, so they may want someone else in their home and have a home seeker move in. It’s a win-win for all. Another benefit is if they come from different cultures, or different upbringings, they can share different stories."
The home share project is about enhancing overall well-being.
“But we also want to ensure that all parties involved are safe, for home provider, and home seeker,” Meek said.
For those that are interested in the home share program, the free process begins with an application.
"We then bring home providers and home seekers together for an introductory meeting with each other so they themselves can connect and ask each other questions to see if they are compatible," Meek said.
Both parties are required to complete a criminal check, and CJI also provides mediation while conversations take place.
“There are so many things to think about, but this allows an opportunity to answer any questions before they move in and avoids any future conflict. All of this can be negotiated.”
Once mediation is complete, both parties can then decide to make the move.
The home share program has been operating in the region for about eight months.
“We have taken it slow because we want to ensure all bases are covered. We don’t want to rush this at all,” Meek said.
“Hamilton and Peterborough are working on something similar. It is spreading. We have done presentations for people wanting to start a program such as this. This can be based on whatever it is that your community needs.”
Friesen said home sharing is not a new concept. In Vermont, there are over 100 home shares happening a year.
“But you need a bit of time for a community to get used to the idea. The idea of sharing your home is a common idea to lots of folks in the world, but in many cultures, this is foreign.” Friesen said.
“We need about $40,000 to run this program. We do need financial assistance and volunteers, but we also need folks who have homes and who might want to consider sharing them."
“We have lots of people looking for housing, but what we don’t have is folks who are wanting to share their homes. I can see why this might make people nervous, which is why we take our time and help people through the process of meeting people and then making a decision.”
CJI encourages people to reach out if they are considering home sharing.
“This is going to take off,” Meek said.
“But it needs to be done in a way that protects people and builds relationships rather than breaks them down.”
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