Under One Roof

Enhanced well-being is no small benefit of a shared-living arrangement. Social isolation is a major issue for older people, especially widows and widowers who suddenly lose their social support. "What we're really talking about when we speak about aging and housing," says McNickle, "is long-term care. And home sharing is an option that brings in an informal support system, re-creating, in some cases, a family structure." Baby boomers may be the perfect candidates. "This is a generation that enjoyed communal living in the 1960s," says Robyn Stone, executive director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services in Washington. "As they age, they may be perfectly amenable to living with non-family members — more so than the current aging population — if it means being able to stay in their own homes."

Even for those whose college days predated hippie communes, like Janet Carroo, 75, and her housemate, Betty Koontz, 79, the shared-housing arrangement can be life transforming. When Carroo asked the Center of Concern in Park Ridge, Ill., for a housemate shortly after her husband died, she never expected to find a new best friend. Both women are widows living on fixed incomes, but they have created a rich and energetic life together — going to church, sharing meals, visiting the elderly as volunteers and traveling together to see their grown children in Florida and Arizona. "We've become like sisters," says Koontz, "and living with Janet has made my life much happier."