Back to the Future with Home Sharing

Last month, HSCVT staff attended a dynamic symposium in Burlington called “Back to the Future: How Do We Get There?”   (If you’re curious about that title, check out this entertaining video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ZNpbgzSbs)

Of course, we have no age limit for home providers, but many home owners are seniors.  The symposium was an excellent opportunity to learn ways to better serve this segment of the home sharing population.

The first keynote speaker — Dr. Suzanne Kunkel, Director of the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio – was fabulous!  Her visionary wisdom was inspiring, and strengthened our belief that home sharing will play an increasingly vital role in our multi-generational communities.  Here are some ways home sharing is in sync with Dr. Kunkel’s observations:

• Current thinking among gerontology experts is that we should support healthy independent life for as long as possible.  No doubt, home sharing can be a big boost to that.  Home providers and home seekers alike are less lonely, more engaged in life – just generally happier!

• As a society, we need to embrace collective values, and take care of each other.  That is at the heart and soul of home sharing.  Fortunately, it’s also a fundamental Vermont value.

• Interestingly, Dr. Kunkel cited generational interdependence as a growing – and positive — trend.  We certainly see this in home share matches. Match partners can be relatively close in age, or many generations apart – for example, a 19 year-old with a couple in their late 80’s!

“No way, no way will we be ready for the baby boom unless we do some creative planning,” Dr. Kunkel said.  Home sharing is certainly innovative – most states don’t have any home share programs at all!  And we’re all about being creative (we like the word “nimble”) to continue growing and learning how to best meet central Vermont’s home sharing needs.

To learn more about Dr. Kunkel and her fascinating work, you can check out her website:  www.scrippsaging.org