‘My choices are limited’: over-50s turn to flatsharing in cost of living crisis

theguardian.com:

Marie, 53, shares a flat with her friend and their family. It’s noisy and cramped and she is desperate to move into her own place but she can’t. Rents are high in East Sussex, where she lives, and the property market is highly competitive, with estate agents prioritising dual-income families.

“I’m looking all the time, I have to move,” she said. “It’s not conducive to my mental health or wellbeing here.”

Marie teaches English to refugees. “None of them can believe their teacher is struggling to make ends meet and to have somewhere to live. They are flabbergasted,” she said. “I don’t need a lot – just a one-bed flat and a garden. It shouldn’t be too much to ask. It’s really rather incredible seeing as I did everything right, I went to school, to university, I have two degrees, 17 years of experience in my field.”

Marie’s story is an increasingly common one for people aged over 50. Data from the house-sharing platform SpareRoom shows a 114% increase in people aged 45-55 looking for rooms, and a 239% rise among people aged 55-64, between 2011 and 2021.

While some are choosing to share properties for social reasons and because there is less stigma than in the past, many are priced out of living alone.

SpareRoom’s Matt Hutchinson said: “The cost of living crisis has had a huge impact on the rental market,” making it even more unaffordable than pre-pandemic. He said it was likely to “get worse before [it gets] better”.

Among older flatsharers there is a mix of people who have faced life-changing circumstances and realised they can’t afford to rent on their own, and long-term renters who “simply can’t afford to get on to the property ladder”, Hutchinson said.

This has accelerated since the cost of living crisis began. Cohabitas, a