SpacesShared featured in Simcoe.com

On announcing the partnership with Georgian College, the Simcoe.com news team took a deeper look into how the partnership between Georgian College and SpacesShared will benefit both students and hosts living in homesharing arrangements.

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Georgian College has a new plan in the works it says will benefit students and older adults alike.

The Barrie-based college recently announced a partnership with the home sharing company SpacesShared for a program that pairs a student in need of housing up with an older adult with room to spare.

“If they’re (students) not so worried and desperate for housing situations to be resolved, then that could allow them to be even more successful in their academic journey, which will provide a well-rounded, positive cycle of encouragement that they might not have had if they were lacking certain resources,” said Sarah Ortiz, Georgian College student and president of its Orillia students’ association.

Along with potentially contributing to a student’s success, Ortiz said the program could help contribute to a student’s bank account.

“Students are paying more for a one- or two-bedroom apartment that, just a few years ago, could have gotten them an entire home. They’re sacrificing square footage and amenities for a higher cost and paying more.”

It isn’t just students benefiting from this program, said Suzie Addison-Toor, Georgian’s Vice President of Student Success.

“The other outcome that we’re looking for is how might we help reduce social isolation and older adults that might be living on their own,” said Addison-Toor. “The folks that are renting out their spaces, they have an option to put whether they need a little bit of extra help and those students that are willing to provide that extra help will also receive a drop or reduction in their rent,” she said.

Gwen Kavanagh, Chair of the local chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP), says representatives of SpacesShared and the college gave her board a presentation about the program. She said it looks promising.

“The board was very interested, as the housing shortage is so acute, for all ages. We do have some followup questions before fully endorsing the program, but the general feeling was positive,” she said in an email to Simcoe.com.

“It is very much using a technology program to match seniors and students with common interests. They emphasized that if a senior could use Facebook, then they would be able to navigate the app,” she added.

Rylan Kinnon, CEO of SpacesShared, says the program hopes to pair up students with hosts with insightful lived experiences.

“If we’re able to match based on the area of work that the person was in to the area of study, we have the ability for that older adult to also provide some guidance and information and context on what it’s like to work in that profession in Barrie,” he suggested.

Kinnon says they have a stringent screening process in place to ensure safety on both ends. This includes verifying applicants’ identity, and even a criminal-background check.

“We know who you are; if you do not abide by the commitments you make to your host or guests, and if you do not abide by our platform policies, you’re removed, and you can’t come back,” he told Simcoe.com.

Those interested in applying to be a host or guest can do so though the SpacesShared website at spacesshared.ca.