Hello everyone,
My names Joseph Smith and I am one of the people working on Room For Tea. I thought it would be good to firstly thank you for your honest feedback. It is extremely useful for us to hear. We are currently just starting out and trialing the service. We are learning everyday and your input is extremely valuable.
I also wanted to just give a bit of insight into the work and respond to some of the concerns raised in the comments.
Firstly we agree with all the comments made regarding low or unpaid internships. We fully believe people should be paid for their contributions.
The current situation in the UK means that the system
We have been and continue to be actively involved in the conversations and campaigns to make internships and low paid work fairer.
However, whether its right or not, internships at the moment act as a foot in the door to dream careers. Most of these opportunities are in London which is the most expensive place in the UK to rent.
We feel it is important to find ways to support those people based around the UK who otherwise wouldn't have access to these opportunities, or else careers and ambition will be solely for those who can afford it.
These people are dedicated, committed and professional young people who are just looking for a break.
We understand, as many of you mentioned in your feedback, that downsizing is an issue that has a lot of coverage in the media.
The narrative in the reports on downsizing often suggest people should vacate their homes and move to smaller properties to allow families to make use of the space. We feel not only is this not a very creative response to this situation (it represents an economists view of the world), but completely doesn't take into account that a home is much more than a house. Homes are filled with memories, where we feel comfortable and a source of pride for many people.
Our analysis of many home sharing schemes is that they do focus very much on the older adults "needs", and are focused on those who are "frail or lonely". Although there is certainly a need there for some people, it is not a fair reflection of the people we have met nor do we feel it is relevant to categorise people in this way. There are many services and schemes designed to support those who need help.
What we have seen in the people we are involved with, is that they like the idea of helping others - not being helped. They have helped us recognise the potential to create good social connections not just between guests and hosts, but also through giving hosts the ability to meet one another
We also in no way suggest that people "should" share their homes with others or feel obliged to do this in any way. What we have found so far is actually many people see many benefits to having people staying with them, whether that be the financial incentives, feeling a bit more security or simply meeting new people. What we have also found that helping someone else out appeals to people. This flips the traditional beliefs around home sharing on their head.
Again thanks so much for your feedback it has helped inform the work we are doing. We do not think we have all the answers but we want to work together towards something that is a bit better and a bit fairer.
We really appreciate Gransnet allowing us some space to start conversations and all of you for feeding in.
Any further comments or concerns please do feed through to us.
Many thanks
Joe
