Should old people give rooms to interns?

Thanks for the additional information Joe. My husband and I have given a home to many, many young people over the years, (literally hundreds) some on a straight lodger/landlord basis, others because of social need and many international students or foreign nationals in need of short term accommodation. Without exception our experiences have always been positive and we remain in touch with very many of the young people we've housed. Good luck with your initiative.

I suppose if it was the right young person and I was frail and alone, it might not be a bad idea.

I wonder.......

Maybe I dismissed it too quickly.

Sorry, Joe.

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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

Having had to live with my teenage grandchildren for 17 months, I would never share my home with anyone else.
My sister has lived in her former council house (now belongs to a Housing Association) for over 25 years. When she moved in, she had four sons living at home. She has spent a great deal of time and money in decorating it and making a lovely, if small, garden. It has three bedrooms, but she often has her grandchildren/children to stay with her. She is partially disabled and has a good support network of neighbours.
I found it very annoying that house-owners who thought it was terrible that anyone should suggest that they downsize, should at the same time think my sister should be forced to move to some kind of one-bedroomed flat in a different area where she would know nobody. One law for the rich.......

I think I'd rather push up native orchids

IN that case, goldengirl it would be courteous for them to wait.

It's because they know we'll be pushing up the daisies sooner rather than later.

What is this obsession with older people's homes? I know that there is a housing shortage for families and that renting flats can be hugely expensive for single people. But why is it that the government and other bodies seek a solution by suggesting that somehow older people are being unreasonable to want to stay in the homes they have paid for, worked on and quite probably lived in for a long time? There are many other ways to help young families.

I don't fancy a stranger in my house. It's the term 'intern' that puts me off. Neither a lodger or a carer it seems to me. Having a carer live in would be different because if I reached that stage then I'd need one or have to go into a home. Having a lodger who'd share my facilities no thanks. Been there, done that with a series of au pairs in my younger days. I prefer my own company - and that of GN of course

Surely this is not a new idea. I believe a scheme called 'Homeshare'started several years ago.and is still functioning in some areas -look on google

I have two bedrooms and want to keep one for visitors. We have a right to a spare room!

petallus I've only got a husband living with me!

Zephrine my house too. I've got a 22 year old grandson living with me.

When my marriage broke up and I was thinking of ways I could still afford to stay in the same house, I did consider taking in a lodger, and my first thought was to contact the local hospital, thinking that there would be less chance of me offering a home to a psychopath of some kind [ok; perhaps not; I do work for the nhs so it was more a case of a 'better the devil you know']. What stopped me was the fact that my son kept moving back home and I also felt that any lodger would expect an en suite bathroom. Also, our local hospital closed down and the the new one is so far away no one would consider having to travel from my village to the new one on a regular basis. I'd lived in so many shared houses in my youth that, doing so again didn't bother me, especially as I'm the one that plays music very loud late into the night, and, hopefully, a young intern would be working unusual shifts which means I could carry on doing so. Would an intern be classed as a student, thereby allowing the house owner to still claim the 25% off the council tax [or whatever it's called these days]?

I don't want some intern under my feet, and unless it is a plumbing or lanscape gardening intern (don't suppose they exist) I can imagine having to teach tme the jobs they could do, in the first place. If they aren't well off, they wouldn't be taking me anywhere in their car, but maybe needing lifts in mine, and I can get the shopping I need online. No thanks!

Oh dear you've just described my house Pet

More thoughts, just imagine, the house would be a tip, dirty clothes left lying around, empty booze bottles, food disappearing from the fridge at an alarming rate, mucky bathroom etc. The frail old person would probably end up doing the intern's washing, cooking and cleaning and having to listen to loud young type music.

No, I wouldn't be interested in the scheme for all the reasons mentioned already. Even the organ bit couldn't tempt me
]

Oh I don't know . If he was young, dishy free and played the organ well?



I could have a good singsong!

If I was frail and vulnerable, the last thing I would want would be a young stranger living in my home.
No way.

I really hate the assumption behind all these initiatives that older people as a group need this help and companionship. Just once could some of the very nice people who have these ideas say something like 'Some older people who have become disabled and isolated'. I agree there may be people who would well respond to a scheme like this. It is just the way it is automatically assumes old = disability+ vulnerability. A scheme like this might be welcome to people of all ages who are disabled, isolated and possibly vulnerable.

My father lived to be 92 still living independently and still active enough in local organisations for his profile to be high enough for his MP to turn up for the funeral. When he died my sister and I were still waiting for him to add vulnerable to the age + equation.

There are many older people in this country and also many disabled people and many vulnerable and many vulnerable or lonely people. Some people belong to all these groups. The majority do not.

Spot on, absent!

Absent, I feel the same.

Some very good points made there absent I dont think it would work as mentioned before a new broom and all that then they get bored and the contract would not be kept as originally planned.