Sharing a Home--and Common Ground
Phyllis Coates can tell horror stories about looking through the ads for a room to rent.
Some of the homes she visited appeared not to have been cleaned in years, and a few of her prospective roommates made it clear they were interested in the 66-year-old Coates only as a nursemaid.
Many also seemed aghast that she was an artist and recoiled from the thought of sharing the same house with a painter who used actual paints, she remembers now with a smile.
But all that was before Coates met Bea Kaser, 72, a fellow Pennsylvanian with a similar background and an equal love of independence.
The two were brought together through the South County Senior Shared Housing Program, which has matched about 1,270 people in shared living arrangements since its establishment in 1985.
Although aimed at senior citizens who may be on fixed incomes, the program caters to all age groups, said coordinator Susan Gattis. Past matches have included a single mother with two children who live with an older, retired couple, and young, single working people who provide help around the house to older homeowners in return for room and board.
What attracts nearly all to the program is a need for companionship, combined with the struggle to make ends meet in high-cost Orange County.
Gattis said that even shared-housing participants are now asking an average of $413 for monthly rental, pricing out some prospective matches.
Still, nearly all agree that the shared-housing program is a safer means of finding a roommate than any other route.
Participants are interviewed by program staffers about their background, likes and dislikes, and all homes are inspected.
Coates and Kaser have been together now for two years and have high praise for the program.
“Several of my friends have become involved in the program since I found such a good roommate,” said Kaser, sitting in her cozy San Clemente home, which sits near the 13th green of of the Municipal Golf Course.
Kaser had been living alone for 10 years following the death of her architect husband when an illness forced her to consider looking for a roommate.
Coates, from Pittsburgh, and Kaser, from Johnstown, said they were immediately attracted because of their Pennsylvania backgrounds, both having childhood recollections of the devastating floods that struck the region and both being familiar with Pennsylvania Dutch slang.
They say they treat each other now like sisters, each with her own independent life. Kaser, a former bookkeeper, is president of the Good Neighbors Club of Capistrano Valley and active in the Audubon Society, while Coates, a former illustrator of children’s books, divides her time between teaching art classes and portrait painting. Yet they can help one another when needed.
“It’s been a great success,” Coates said. “I don’t think either one of us thought we would get along so well or that it would last so long.”
South County Senior Shared Housing Program Established: 1985 Annual Budget: $40,000 Background: Provides housing asrrangements for seniors and others. Address: 2021 Calle Frontera, San Clemente, Calif. 92672 (714) 498-0400
