Seniors and students living together to save on rent, find ‘family’
TORONTO — After her husband died, Elizabeth Hill says she would lay awake listening for bumps in the night in her eerily empty home — so to get some shut-eye, she decided let a stranger live with her.
Since then, the 75-year-old has compiled seven “guest books” filled with photos and thank-you notes from the dozens of young international students who have stayed with her over the past two decades.
Hill is one of a number seniors who have been moving in with students in exchange for subsidized rent and occasional help around the house — often with the added benefit of lasting friendships.
A Toronto elder-care initiative is working to replicate these mutually beneficial living arrangements this fall, in a provincially funded pilot project that aims to set the Canadian standard in intergenerational home sharing.