OKLAHOMA CITY: A not-for-profit is lobbying for funds to implement the French student elderly buddy system.
A growing number of students are living with elderly people under a scheme launched by charities and being promoted by the French government.
Officials see intergenerational housing as a solution for students unable to afford normal digs, and for lonely pensioners.
The rents tend to be low – as little as $390 for a room in Paris, for example, compared with double that on the free market. Some rooms are free, with the student agreeing in return to spend time chatting with the landlord each day.
“This sort of thing has existed for generations but now it is becoming structured,” said Makiko Yano, the director of Le Pari Solidaire, an association which pioneered the concept in France.
She said her association was inundated with requests from students wanting to live with elderly people in Paris and other cities. “We only accept those who really want to create a relationship and refuse those who apply only because they want cheap rent.”