Italy, Milan
By: Associazione Megliomilano and Provincia di Milano
www.meglio.milano.it

Intergenerational house sharing helps students find cheap, family-style accommodation, while giving lonely, but independent, elders help, companionship and financial support.

Solution
Megliomilano realised that independent elderly people could provide young students with low-cost accommodation in exchange for a little household help. A campaign generated a lot of offers from elderly people who had at least one room free in their house; manmy students also submitted requests. A psychologist was employed to visit the houses, interview the students and elderly people, and match the two together. Megliomilano keeps track of everybody involved through weekly feedback, gives both parties free legal assistance and support from a psychologist support, and organises monthly meetings with all users of the service.

Background
Large Europeans cities like Milan have a huge demand for student accommodation; in 2003, nearly 20,000 places were needed in the city. An increasing number of elderly people living alone need a little help with everyday activities. In addition, room prices in Milan are some of the most expensive in Italy, forcing students to live in nearby cities and to commute to college. As the Milan universities cannot offer a solution to these problems, students often decide to study somewhere else, and Milan loses out both culturally and economically. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of elderly people need help to live independently in their own homes.

Current situation
Megliomilano’s campaign was launched in June 2004. A pilot project of the first 12 intergenerational house-shares started on November 2004, in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano. Intergenerational house sharing had already been successfully developed in Piacenza and Como, two small towns in Italy. The problem in Milan is on a different, much bigger, scale - similar to Barcelona and London which run similar schemes.
By 2005, 30 intergenerational house-sharing cases were under way, all monitored weekly for feedback. The cost per room varies from 150 to 250 Euros per month, paid directly to the house owner. MeglioMilano provides the resources, with a little funding coming from (RAS), a private company. As the service is still at the pilot stage, there are not yet any financial figures to study.

The benefits

Society
The service gives an immediate solution to two big problems in Milan: the lack of accommodation for students and the need of company and little assistance for elderly people living alone. At the same time it reduces the generation gap, and provides new ideas dealing with problems of elderly people. Two problems are emerging: sometimes the elderly people are using the students as nurses, which was never the aim of the service; and a female bias is evident: Elderly people look for female students, and students look for female elderly people. This reduces the opportunities for males, both elderly and students.

Environment
Reducing the number of student commuters has the potential to reduce traffic, pollution and overcrowding on public transport. Sharing of buildings, rooms and facilities allows to reduce the need for heating per person, and produce a more efficient use of the buildings.

Economy
There are clear economic benefits for both users of the service: The elderly people get financial and practical help; while students get access to low-cost rooms, so can afford to live and study in Milan and enjoy the cultural life of the city. The providers are currently using funds from the private sector and their own resources, but this will not be enough for much longer.

The quality of the experience
For the elderly: to have, everyday, someone to provide supportive care that care that they can rely on. For the students, it seems to be like finding a new grand-father or grand-mother.

Future development possibilities
As populations age, large numbers of households in Europe will contain elderly people who have unused rooms. The Milan system of matching these people with roomless tuidents is one response; another could be a service that enables older people to pool resources in other ways and among themselves, not just with students.

Authors
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Ahmet Ozan Sener, Anna Zavagno

Elderly people use the service because they are tired of living alone. They often need the company more than the money, and enjoy having young people around: that makes them feel younger. Young students, keen on social issues, love the idea, especially considering the high cost of accommodation in Milan. There are two main aspects to keep in mind: the elderly people need to remain independent (and can’t depend from the students, who are only meant to be giving a little every-day help) and males and females users should both have equal access the service (female students and hosts seems to be the participants).