{"id":253356,"date":"2025-07-10T11:34:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T11:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253356\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T11:34:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T11:34:12","slug":"the-story-behind-the-london-service-offering-230-monthly-rents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253356\/","title":{"rendered":"The story behind the London service offering \u00a3230 monthly rents"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Putney-based group combines affordable housing and elderly support by pairing pensioners who need companionship with young professionals, with hundreds of renters paying no more than \u00a3230.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both parties pay Share and Care Homeshare a monthly fee of \u00a3165 to help keep the program sustainable but no cash is exchanged directly between the pair, except for a capped contribution of \u00a365 a month towards household bills if requested.<\/p>\n

Caroline Cooke founded the organisation in 2006 and her inspiration came from identifying a gap in services as she witnessed her own late parents, specifically her father who lived with dementia, grapple with the challenges of ageing.<\/p>\n

Cooke said: \u201cIt works beautifully because it\u2019s without someone breathing down your neck all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young individuals, who Cooke refers to as sharers, live with elderly hosts and provide companionship alongside ten hours of help each week with activities like meal preparation and grocery shopping.<\/p>\n

This setup strikes a delicate balance as it respects the host\u2019s independence while ensuring they are not living in isolation.<\/p>\n

Cooke recognised a widespread need among seniors who did not require intensive care but still needed some form of assistance, akin to an au pair system.<\/p>\n

She laid the foundation for Share and Care Homeshare<\/a> by drawing from her experience from managing a nanny agency and her public relations career.<\/p>\n

\"\"Share and Care Homeshare CEO Caroline Cooke hard at work (Credit: Share and Care Homeshare with permission)<\/p>\n

Thanks to the company\u2019s one-of-a-kind-approach, Cooke benefitted from early media attention which siginficantly amplified their reach while also engaging with organisations like Age UK, leveraging their networks to connect with potential elder hosts.<\/p>\n

Now, almost 20 years on, the team manages around 100 matches at any given time.<\/p>\n

The matching process, which Cooke describes as acomplex jigsaw puzzle, begins with understanding the householder\u2019s support needs, lifestyle preferences and personal interests to ensure compatibility goes beyond just practical assistance.<\/p>\n

Interviews with potential sharers are centred around their previous experiences with older adults and what their day-to-day schedules look like, with the panel looking for assurance that renters equally value the companionship aspect of the program.<\/p>\n

With most arrangements lasting several years, and the longest reaching 12 years, Cooke had endless stories to share of positive matchmaking stories.<\/p>\n

A memorable arrangement she recalled involved a former music teacher with dementia whose anxiety was soothed by her sharer\u2019s musical sessions.<\/p>\n

Another example was a retired professor with dementia who found a renewed sense of purpose assisting a PhD student sharer with research.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a largely chair-bound former prison psychiatrist in her 90s found it amusing to swipe right as she navigated the dating apps<\/a> with her young sharer.<\/p>\n

Cooke said: \u201cThere are so many ways they help each other. It\u2019s a privilege to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Share and Care Homeshare has achieved notable success, the business model is not without its challenges with one of the primary issues being the supply-demand imbalance.<\/p>\n

The number of sharers seeking affordable accommodation far exceeds the quantity of available homes, creating a waitlist and limiting the programme\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n

Cooke believes this gap is partly due to a lack of awareness among potential elderly participants as well as misconceptions about the programme\u2019s nature such as concerns over privacy or misunderstandings about the role of sharers.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt\u2019s crucial that we build awareness among potential hosts to bridge this gap and allow the initiative to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The founder suggested excluding homeshare arrangements from council tax calculations for pensioners receiving attendance allowance could make the scheme more financially appealing.<\/p>\n

She also emphasised the role of charities and link workers in promoting the model as a primary care option, noting that recognition in these areas could significantly broaden reach.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, besides the occasional logistical hurdles, Cooke was quick to affirm how appreciative she felt to be leading what she believes to be a meaningful initiative for society\u2019s most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThe real gift is in seeing people help one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents would be very proud. They always saw it as a good model.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feature image credit: Dunya Sim\u00f5es using images via the Creative Commons License <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Putney-based group combines affordable housing and elderly support by pairing pensioners who need companionship with young professionals,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[5176,97484,27869,748,14338,97485,97486,51334,393,4884,97487,3391,257,7389,39323,39459,16,15,32391,18013],"class_list":{"0":"post-253356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-and","9":"tag-arranagements","10":"tag-assistance","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-care","13":"tag-cooke","14":"tag-eldercare","15":"tag-elderly","16":"tag-england","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-homeshare","19":"tag-living","20":"tag-london","21":"tag-professional","22":"tag-putney","23":"tag-share","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom","26":"tag-wandsworth","27":"tag-young"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114828730079740892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}