Home Research New research shows how little-known initiative ‘Homeshare’ is alleviating loneliness by over 75%

New research shows how little-known initiative ‘Homeshare’ is alleviating loneliness by over 75%

by Kirsty Kirsty

According to The Campaign to End Loneliness, an average of 7% – one in 12 – people reported feeling lonely often/always from November 2022 to February 2023. This equates to an estimated 3.7 million people, while research shows people feel particularly lonely at Xmas and are often embarrassed to admit this.

In older adults, loneliness is associated with a 50% increased risk of developing dementia and a 30% increased risk of incident coronary artery disease or stroke.

And yet most people in the UK still have not heard of Homeshare.

Two Generations, a national homeshare service in the UK, has been matching older people in need of companionship with younger, carefully vetted housemates for the past 5 years. Homeshare is widely known across Europe and USA but is still relatively unknown in the UK despite a number of well-known partnerships. Two Generations runs a Homeshare service for Age UK across several London boroughs (Hillingdon, Harrow and Brent).

In the lead up to Christmas 2023, Two Generations have just released the results of their homeshare impact studwhich shows 77.46% of people who mentioned isolation or loneliness as their biggest challenge pre-homeshare have found the challenge to have significantly reduced after just 6 months. Nearly half (44%) of householders felt that the challenges they faced pre-homeshare were completely eliminated after 6 months and for almost everyone (97%), their challenges had improved over that time.

A recent family testimonial shared with Two Generations after the passing of one of their householders said ‘Just wanted to let you know that my grandfather died last night. His relationship with George, facilitated by Two Generations, was one of the great pleasures of his later years, and enabled him to maintain independence and an active life far longer than he would otherwise have been able to.’

In the lead up to Xmas, when loneliness is often at its peak, Two Generations has developed the first national radio campaign to raise awareness of Homeshare (starting 12th December on LBC) to spread the word and help reduce loneliness for a much wider audience.

Two Generations CEO and co-Founder Sam Brandman said“Our mission is to tackle loneliness for as many people as possible across the country. We’re all more aware of loneliness at Christmas, especially for older people, so we’re proud our latest research shows how Homeshare can really help tackle the problems for not just older people themselves but their families and carers as well. Now with the launch of our first-ever radio campaign, we hope more people will discover Homeshare and the benefits it brings.”

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