The new exciting and innovative House Share plan

What is House Share?

House Share helps people to support each other under the same roof The aim is to find an older person who can offer a spare room, and a younger person (usually), who needs a good quality home for a reasonable price. The young person will offer companionship and practical support around the home, whilst receiving a comfortable home and friendship. Therefore, it helps tackle many of the challenges facing us today:

Helps older people to live a good, independent life in their own homes

Helps tackle loneliness, and as a result, ill-health Affordable homes, particularly with the cost-of-living crisis

Reduces demand for statutory services

Puts the minds of the individual and their families at ease

Gwynedd and Swansea are the only two counties in Wales that offer Home Share opportunities at present. Through a process of careful and thorough matching, we hope to give as many local people as possible an opportunity to benefit from this exciting plan in a safe way.

Such schemes are well-established in England where Homeshare UK helps residents and communities in 21 local authority areas, with obvious benefits.

Who is the House Share Coordinator?

I'm Richard Williams, but just Rich! Since I started with the Council in 2015, I have been working mainly in the Adults Department with the Workforce Development Team, and more recently after COVID, coordinating PPE for the care field Before then, I worked for Agored Cymru for 14 years

I have enjoyed working to establish this project since midJanuary this year, and I'm really enjoying it. As with every new plan, it takes a lot of work to set up and things I haven't thought of do crop up. I'm very grateful for the support of the Well-being Team, particularly Siân and Mirain, who are always available to bounce ideas off and to help get everything in place. By now, I feel that things have come together well and I'm ready for the real work to begin, i e thoroughly and carefully matching people, continuing to support them regularly once they're living together and making a positive difference to people's lives.

Want to know more? Go to the Council’s website: bit.ly/rhannucartref or to the Homeshare UK site where there are a number of videos and stories about the plan's successes: homeshare.org. Or if you would like a chat or if you know any people who could benefit from Homeshare, please get in touch!

Tel: 07388 859015 e-mail: richardwynwilliams@gwynedd llyw cymru