Two Reasons to Share.One Place to Start.
Some open the room down the hall to steady their finances. Others open it to refill their days. Most discover they wanted both, which is what HomeShare Online is built for.
Why Now
The Cost of Living Alone Is Rising. So Is the Cost of Going It Alone.
Costs are climbing faster than fixed incomes. Loneliness is now a recognized public health crisis. New construction can't keep pace with the people who simply need a place to land. The room you don't use is more powerful than you think.
of older U.S. households are housing-cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income on housing. That is a record 12.4 million households.
Source: Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, State of the Nation's Housing 2025
across the United States. Retirees alone own 18 million of them. The housing already exists. It just needs to be shared.
Source: John Burns Research and Consulting, Home Sharing: 44 Million Empty Bedrooms Await
of U.S. older adults report feeling lonely at least some of the time. The Surgeon General has called isolation a national epidemic with measurable health consequences.
Source: U.S. Surgeon General Advisory 2023; University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging 2024
Why You
Two Reasons to Share. Both Yours.
Half of home providers open their door for the income. Half open it for the company. Neither reason is the only reason. Whichever brought you here, the same care, the same screening, and the same support are waiting on the other side.
Let the home you've built work for you.
The average Social Security retirement benefit in the United States is roughly $2,079 per month. For millions of older home providers, that does not cover the rising weight of mortgages, taxes, utilities, and groceries. Home providers on HomeShare Online earn as much as $800 per month from sharing their home. The rent goes to you, not through us.
- $800 per month suggested rent, or $9,600 per year
- 3 months average time to find the right match
- $125 to join, includes a $50 refundable deposit
Refill the home you love.
An empty house is louder than people admit. Sharing your home brings someone home for dinner, someone to talk to in the morning, and a "just in case" presence on the days you'd rather not be alone. And for the people who love you, it is the gift of peace of mind. The reassurance that someone responsible is there, even when they cannot be.
- 79% of providers report feeling safer in their home
- 55% report worrying less about money
- 44% report feeling less dependent or burdensome to family
How It Works
As Simple as...
You build your profile.
You decide what to share, what to hold back, and what kind of person you'd like to live alongside. The pace is yours.
You choose who to talk to.
The platform surfaces verified matches based on your values and preferences. You decide who to message, who to video, who to meet.
You decide who to invite home.
If a match feels right, you bring them home on your terms. If it doesn't, you keep looking. No pressure, no quotas, no penalty.
Our platform presents you to potential home providers without bias and without income requirements. Our goal is to help home providers find the right person to share their spare room with. Is that you?
How We Keep You Safe
Safety Isn't a Feature, It's the Foundation.
Every match is built on a verification process that other home sharing platforms do not even attempt. Here is what stands behind every introduction.
Every person who joins our platform pays a modest fee. It is a small but meaningful signal of commitment to the process, on both sides of the match.
Every member's identity is verified through a third-party provider whose entire business is weeding out bad actors before they ever reach the platform.
We use Checkr's caregiver-grade background check, the gold standard in trust-and-care work: criminal records, sex offender registry, abuse and neglect registries, identity and SSN trace, address history, and global watchlist.
Our matching platform has paired sharers for nearly a decade. Unlike human reviewers, the platform carries no bias and never decides on your behalf. It surfaces the data you need and leaves the choice with you.
Get to know verified candidates contact-free through in-platform messaging and video. Your identifying information stays private until you're ready to take the next step.
A library of recommended home sharing agreements, safety best practices, and conversation guides, kept current and developed with subject matter experts. You are never figuring this out alone.
What you have is enough. Share it.
Sign Up NowI came in for the income. The taxes weren't going down and the heating bills weren't either. A year in, the rent helps, but the company is what I tell my friends about. I'm not just staying in my home. I'm enjoying it again.
Linda · Home Provider · Portland, OR
Why Us
We Built the Platform. We've Proven the Model.
HomeShare Oregon owns and distributes HomeShare Online, the nation's only nonprofit technology platform purpose-built for home sharing to support aging in place. We are not a roommate app. We are not a short-term rental site. We are a curated, vetted matching service trusted by the City of Portland and other partners across the country, built around the safety and stability of the people who use it.
Our Partners
Trusted by Organizations Across the Country.
HomeShare Online is distributed in partnership with mission-driven organizations who serve their communities every day. If one of them serves yours, we'll guide you to them.
Each logo links to that partner's home sharing sign-up page.