{"id":253653,"date":"2025-11-09T20:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T20:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/253653\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T20:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T20:09:11","slug":"im-a-pensioner-sharing-with-someone-in-their-thirties-has-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/253653\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m a pensioner – sharing with someone in their thirties has changed my life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tRetired homeowner Sheila French said ‘it’s nice to get up in the morning and say hello to someone’\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

The death of her husband four years ago left Sheila French dreading the long, dark evenings alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as it turned dark, I would hate it,\u201d she told The i Paper. \u201cI have a big house and I have got security, but I felt both loneliness and a sense of insecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was this loneliness and a feeling of insecurity which drove her to make a major change in her life.<\/p>\n

She decided to venture into a home-share living arrangement, inviting a younger person to move in for company and support.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now I don\u2019t have to be alone\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cNow I don\u2019t have to be alone if I don\u2019t want to, there\u2019s somebody to talk to and it\u2019s nice to get up in the morning and say hello to someone\u201d, she said. \u201cThe age difference doesn\u2019t matter to me at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheila is one of a number of retired homeowners looking to share their property <\/a>with a younger person. <\/p>\n

For some, it is to combat loneliness and isolation while for others, renting out a spare room is a means to bolster pensions and ease the cost of living.<\/a><\/p>\n

A YouGov poll for the charity Intergenerational England found 81per cent of UK adults believed mixing across ages reduced loneliness, 76 per cent said it improved mental health, and 86 per cent said it fostered mutual respect and challenged ageism.<\/p>\n

And 60 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds felt mixing with people from different generations could help with housing issues.<\/p>\n

With affordable housing at a premium, intergenerational housing offers another alternative for young people looking for somewhere to live.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to The Health Foundation, housing affordability has declined across all age groups over the past decade, but the most for people aged 25\u201334. <\/p>\n

Following a career first as a secretary then in the fashion department for John Lewis and latterly as a school teaching assistant, Sheila has continued to keep busy in her local community in Bournemouth, Dorset.<\/p>\n

\"\"Aleksandra Buhl Thostrup is one of an increasing number of younger people who house share with an older person<\/p>\n

\u201cI do belong to certain things \u2013 I work as a volunteer for the local hospital and I do things with my local church\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

However, she would still wake up to and return to an empty house after the death of her husband.<\/p>\n

So she applied to the social enterprise company Two Generations to find a younger person with whom she could share her home.<\/p>\n

It matches older homeowners who need company and support with younger people who are looking for somewhere comfortable, stable and affordable to live.<\/p>\n

The homeowner pays a monthly fee to Two Generations to match and vet candidates and provide ongoing support.<\/p>\n

\u2018We watch quizzes together\u2019 <\/p>\n

The homesharer must provide 10 and 20 hours a week of support to the householder as well as paying a monthly fee to the firm.<\/p>\n

Sheila is now with her second homesharer Aleksandra Buhl Thostrup, 38, who is originally from Denmark.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cShe cooks for me in the evening and we just chat to each other the whole time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe watch quiz shows on televisions together \u2013 The Chase and Who Wants to Be Millionaire?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have to think or worry about the evening coming on anymore. I don\u2019t have to worry about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is an arrangement which has already developed into a friendship and the pair \u201ckeep in touch all the time\u201d. <\/p>\n

For Aleksandra, an academic researcher in her thirties, the arrangement has also been beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u2018I missed having a sense of family\u2019 <\/p>\n

After her parents divorced and left the UK, she wanted to remain but felt cut loose from the stability of a family home.<\/p>\n

She told The i Paper: \u201cI really missed having the sense of a family somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is her second homeshare and she said she now has a \u201csense of security and a base from which to carry on the rest of your life\u201d.<\/p>\n

She admitted she has never been one for partying, so coming back home in the evening to spend time with Sheila suits her.<\/p>\n

But for those thinking of pursuing a homeshare, she cautioned against being motivated by \u201cwanting to save money on rent\u201d.<\/p>\n

Instead, she said: \u201cYou have to be motivated because you want to get the gratifying sense of someone relying on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa Goldsobel, head of service delivery at Two Generations, told The i Paper: \u201cThrough every match we make, Two Generations Homeshare has a profound impact \u2014 enhancing wellbeing, reducing loneliness, and helping householders remain independent in the comfort of their own homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a homesharer offers opportunities to reconnect with the community and leisure activities that previously might not have been possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cHouseholders regularly tell us \u2013 we have been on lots of fun days out together, before she came this wasn\u2019t possible very often unless family or friends were staying.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retired homeowner Sheila French said ‘it’s nice to get up in the morning and say hello to someone’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,24003,4174,4175,2295,5367,56,54,55,10781],"class_list":{"0":"post-253653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-older-people","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-personalfinance","13":"tag-property","14":"tag-renting","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-young-people"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}