Women common room Seniors sharing to slash bills
OLDER people might get a bad rap for being set in their ways, but this Gold Coast woman is proof that staying flexible makes for a successful housemate partnership.
For Upper Coomera woman Hillary Hook, the less house rules the better.
“I’ve kept the house rules very minimal,” she said. “There’s not much to remember, less to forget. We have our own rubbish bins, they have to take their own bins out.”
Ms Hook said subtle hints – that she never personalised – and staying flexible was key to good shared accommodation.
She has been sharing her northern Gold Coast rental with older women for more than a decade after meeting them online on the Women Wide Network for Share Accommodation page.
Ms Hook said she and her 55-year-old housemate were part of the Gold Coast’s housing affordability stress which was creating a “population of vulnerable older women”.
“I had spent all my super and at my age it isn’t easy to get a job,” she said.
“I can’t afford to live by myself, I only get about $300 a week from the Government. I certainly can’t branch out on Flatmates.com because the majority of the people are students or people offering a single bedroom.
“When you’re my age you need storage and more space than a tiny bedroom. I’m calling this stage of life the great unprepared.”
Linda Mina created the Facebook group Women Wide Network for Share Accommodation as a way for women to communicate and connect about accommodation, but said she was surprised at how many women started using it.
“I found that single rentals were unaffordable on the Gold Coast. Gumtree and Flatmates were not really appropriate for an older person. So I started a Facebook group,” Ms Mina said.
“This group has grown to more than a thousand members since I started it and has helped so many seniors find share accommodation, or a flatmate to share their home.”
Ms Mina said senior women were the fastest-growing demographic among the homeless and she wanted to do her bit to keep them safe. “Women who are single. Maybe lonely. Probably paying too much for a tiny apartment. Those couch-surfing with friends or family or, worse still, sleeping in their cars.”