For many older adults, low and/or fixed income results in a range of unmet basic needs. Inflation and the recent expiration of many pandemic benefits have intensified these chronic challenges, with many seniors suddenly losing up to several hundred dollars per month of public benefits. Evidence suggests that these cuts will adversely affect quality of life and health for low-income seniors. Political and budgetary constraints limit the likelihood such benefits will be restored, making strategies to help these seniors manage the costs of living especially important. Housing is the largest portion of living costs for most low-income seniors. The city of Chicago—along with other cities nationwide—has limited affordable housing and resources to increase affordable, single-person housing to meet the needs of their aging populations. Long waiting lists for affordable senior housing exist throughout Chicago and most communities across the country.  

This project aims to catalyze a pilot initiative that addresses the need for affordable housing and companionship among older adults on Chicago’s South Side through roommate matching. Roommates could open up new sources of housing for seniors while providing them with large economic benefits and companionship, allowing them to age successfully in place for as long as they are able. The long-term aims of this project are to establish and study the implementation of a program to help seniors with unmet social needs find roommates with whom they can share housing costs, and to study its effects on unmet basic needs and health outcomes.