If the time of retirement promises good years of rest for some, for others it is synonymous with financial stress. This is especially the case for single people whose pension is no longer sufficient to cover the current costs. Shared housing for seniors is developing more and more in order to pass the course and at the same time combat loneliness. In the Gironde, Jany Coolen Debreyer has just taken the plunge with two other women who had met on Facebook.
“We each have our own bedroom, there are several bathrooms. The place is very quiet. We have a garden where we can keep chickens”68-year-old pensioner begins to dream who is being interviewed by the newspaper West France† With her two other roommates, Jany found a house with a rent of 1,100 euros. “If you divide by three, it’s really not that expensive. This is precisely an important advantage of colocation. We share all costs. †
Since the pandemic, the retired nurse has faced a significant drop in income. To supplement her pension of 1,500 euros, she has so far sold home cooking robots. An activity that allowed him to make ends meet while meeting people. But due to the health crisis, the senior in fragile health had to end her activity.
“I live alone in a house of which I am a tenant and I spend more than 750 euros per month on rent. So the situation quickly became complicated. (…) Because I could no longer sell food processors, I was home alone at night. And it got harder and harder.”
A dating group on Facebook
To combat the loneliness and to lighten her wallet, Jany came up with the idea of starting a roommate. After more than a year of efforts, the house and its roommates have finally been found. To find the rare gems that will share her daily life, she created a group on Facebook: Les pénates du Sauternais. That’s how she met Anne and Catherine, one a retired nurse in the Ardèche, the other a retired civil servant in the Médoc.
“We talked a lot, we called each other regularly and the flow passed between us very quickly. It’s reassuring because it’s hard to find the right people.
At the same time, many people continued to contact Jany Coolen Debreyer for advice on establishing this type of shared habitat. She wants to set up an association with her new housemates to support seniors who are interested in these kinds of projects and to bring people into contact with each other.
A project in time!