Spare rooms abound

With Denver’s housing shortage and high rents, young adults may want to consider sharing space with seniors.

Metro Denver’s housing shortage could take years to resolve, but there is one source of supply that could help take some pressure off the market if it gains acceptance.

Across Colorado, there are 790,074 spare bedrooms potentially available to rent, the personal finance website Finder.com estimates. Assuming a rent of $100 a week, those spare rooms have the potential to generate in $4.1 billion a year in rental income.

“It seems like a simple solution really that more people should be considering. Especially with the older generation who are often stuck with these big homes,” said Michelle Hutchison, money expert at Finder.com in Sydney.

Hutchison suggests both short-term and long-term rentals could provide income. But municipal governments and neighborhood groups often oppose short-term rentals.

Spare rooms can rent for about a third of the cost of a one-bedroom apartment, creating options for those otherwise at risk of getting priced out of the market. Nationally, Finder.com estimates that 33.6 million rooms might be available as rentals.

In states where housing is less expensive, an abundance of homes and apartments might result in few takers. But Colorado ran about 15,000 homes and apartments short of what needed to be built last year given population gains, and that imbalance has pushed up rents and home prices from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins.

Tight housing markets are squeezing young adults especially hard in popular places like Denver. Nationally, just under a third of 18- to 34-year-olds are now living with parents or relatives, more than are living with a spouse or significant other, according to the Pew Research Center.

That’s the first time that has happened in records going back to the 1880s. A larger share of young adults are living at home

than at any time since the 1940s, Pew found.

Other surveys show the percentage of adults in metro Denver who are sharing homes with unrelated people also has shot up sharply.

At the same time, as Colorado’s population skews older, more seniors find themselves in homes with more space than they need. Rising property values are contributing to higher taxes and maintenance costs.

“They are often asset rich and cash poor. They are sitting in houses that could be worth a lot of money,” Hutchison said.

At least two for-profits and one nonprofit have sprung up in recent months to help seniors and others with surplus rooms to connect with those needing housing, said Alison Joucovsky, executive director of Sunshine Home Share Colorado.

Her nonprofit expects to start matching seniors with extra space with those who need housing this fall, following a model used in England and Scotland.

“If a senior is struggling to shovel the walk or lacks a car, you can create a service exchange,” Joucovsky said. A tenant agrees to provide a certain number of hours of work in return for reduced rent.

Surveys show about 90 percent of seniors prefer to stay put if they can, but sometimes they need help doing so, she said. And affordable options to downsize are becoming more limited, she added.

Joucovsky said in her research she also learned that the Community College of Denver has 450 students who self-identify as homeless. The situation has become so severe the college allows some of them to spend the night.

Doubling up isn’t just about young and old. There is also an increase in seniors seeking out other seniors, a trend that could help free up homes for young families.

Joucovsky said any roommate situation requires careful screening on both sides, but if done right, it can prove a winwin for all involved.