Becky Brazell is a matchmaker extraordinaire.
Her successful pairings don’t dilly-dally. They move straight in with one another.
She isn’t matching for love but to outwit Colorado’s volatile housing market and a lack of options for aging residents, she said.
Brazell is the programs manager for the nonprofit Sunshine Home Share Colorado, which pairs people seeking affordable housing in metro Denver with older residents in search of companionship, help around the house and rent contributions who are up for a roommate.
Colorado ranked first in the nation for housing instability among people older than 65, according to 2021 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s 65-and-up population more than doubled in 20 years and is projected to grow to 1.3 million by 2035. But seniors living on fixed incomes are increasingly finding Colorado’s inhospitable housing market to be out of reach.
“It’s really sad how many of our older adults are just stuck,” Brazell said.
Sunshine Home Share’s staff vets the potential matches who apply through background and reference checks. They conduct intensive interviews to determine a person’s lifestyle and values, financial situation and roommate dealbreakers — and then wait for fate to align to find a compatible pairing.
If Brazell and her colleagues suspect they’ve found a winning union, they’ll facilitate an introduction. If that goes well, the pair moves in together for a trial period, and, from there, matches can choose to call it quits or draw up an agreement with the help of the organization for a month-to-month living arrangement that lasts as long as the pair wants.
Sometimes, the home-sharing is more about the financial transaction than anything else, but other times, something special happens, Brazell said.
In the case of Flo Phillips and Twisile Kalinga, a family was born.
“They’re going to be very important to each other for the rest of their lives,” Brazell said.
Joys of companionship
The light in Phillips’ pristine Denver home dimmed as the sun set on Monday.
Phillips, who said she doesn’t feel comfortable sharing her age, padded around closing blinds and curtains. The retired attorney had grown accustomed to quiet, solo evenings when sometimes the prospect of making dinner for one sounded like too much effort.
But a recent addition to her home has made dinner a delight once more.
Laughter and the scent of pork tenderloin emanated from the kitchen as Phillips taught her new housemate, Kalinga, how to prepare asparagus.
Kalinga, 32, hails from the African nation of Malawi. The University of Denver student came to the United States in 2021 as a Fulbright scholar, earning her master’s in clinical psychology at New Jersey’s Montclair State University before moving to Colorado to pursue her doctorate.
She has lived in Denver for about five months. Because of her visa, it can be difficult to find work outside of her psychology internship, so affording rent in Denver — among the most difficult housing markets in the nation — was growing harder for Kalinga.
The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Denver in February is $1,638, according to rental manager Zillow. Colorado has the four most expensive housing markets — Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and Greeley — not on a coast, according to a real estate research study.
And not only is the housing expensive, but it’s in short supply. Colorado is short more than 100,000 housing units compared to population, with nearly half of the state’s housing shortfall concentrated in metro Denver.
The scholar shared her housing woes online on Nextdoor, where she was introduced to Sunshine Home Share and, through the nonprofit, to Phillips.
“I really like her,” Kalinga said. “She has a very good sense of humor and she’s very warm.”
Phillips experienced two medical emergencies in the past few years that spooked her. The attorney, who still takes on pro-bono work, doesn’t have family in the state and relies on friends and neighbors when in need. More than anything, she worried about who would look after her beloved cat, Stache, if something happened to her while she was home alone.
A friend suggested Phillips look into Sunshine Home Share, and she was intrigued.
“I don’t have to worry about opening up my home by posting on some website that I have a place I’d like to share,” Phillips said. “They make it easy because they do all the hard work, and I feel very grateful for that. I’ve been telling everyone I know about this program.”
After a successful interview and trial period, Kalinga moved into her new home in January. Phillips bought the student a new desk to accompany her fully furnished basement with its own living room, study area, bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette.
“I look up to her”
Alison Joucovsky, executive director of Sunshine Home Share Colorado, started the nonprofit after working in senior services, kicking things off in 2017.
The program, which also provides free financial counseling for seniors, fits Colorado, the third fastest-aging state in the country, Joucovsky said. Since 2000, Colorado’s 65-and-older population has grown faster than the total state population — a first in state history, according to the state demography office.
“We have a lot of people who are older adults struggling to pay property taxes, stuck in large houses, can’t downsize,” Joucovsky said. “There’s nowhere to go, and they also are just struggling economically. They haven’t saved for retirement, and we have an enormous affordable housing shortage statewide. It’s that win/win of helping someone access income and be able to age in place and access service and also creating affordable housing.”
Home seekers don’t have to be young. In fact, Joucovsky said she often sees applicants in their 50s or 60s who have gone through a divorce and need a place to stay on a budget.
Phillips, unlike many of Sunshine’s participants, wasn’t in the program for the money. She only charges Kalinga $200 rent a month.
Phillips signed up for peace of mind and found a new family member, to boot.
“She treats me as her own daughter,” Kalinga said. “I look up to her as a mother, and I know that she is looking out for me since I don’t have family here.”
If Stache’s portrait on the mantle didn’t properly convey his rule of the roost, the cat’s two housemates fawning over him while he swished his bushy tail did.
Stache warmed right up to Kalinga, who is thrilled to have a pet cat. Phillips joked that now Stache has two moms.
Kalinga and Phillips connected right away, they said. When Phillips was younger, she moved to Australia for a while. She understands what it can be like to move to a different country without knowing anyone. The pair enjoy learning from one another and laughing over their cultural differences.
Phillips cooks for the two every night and Kalinga cleans up after dinner. Kalinga watched her first Super Bowl as Phillips explained the rules and significance of the day. Phillips is introducing Kalinga to her friends, integrating her slowly but surely into her community.
“I enjoy having her around,” Phillips said. “She is respectful. She’s interesting. We talk about a lot of things, and it’s just easy. I don’t think I could have done as well as this organization did for me.”
Debts paid and family made
Phillips and Kalinga are not the only happy customers.
Sunshine Home Share Colorado has made 95 successful matches in metro Denver since its inception.
Jordan Vermeer, now 33, is among those pairings. Vermeer now lives in a Denver home with his wife — a feat he said he was only able to accomplish because of Sunshine Home Share.
Vermeer felt financially constrained in his late 20s. He was crashing with friends in Denver looking for a more permanent housing solution when he came across a posting for Sunshine Home Share. Both of his parents worked in nursing homes, so he had a soft spot for engaging with seniors.
Vermeer signed up and was eventually paired with a septuagenarian Denver homeowner who charged $100 a month — $200 after Vermeer got married and his wife moved in — for a room in exchange for helping take care of the house. Vermeer shoveled snow, tended to the yard and helped move heavy items while also providing his roommate company.
Homeowners can choose what to charge their new tenants, Joucovsky said. The average rent homeowners are asking of their Sunshine Home Share tenants is $750, she said. Of those seeking homes, 40% can pay $800 a month while 60% need rent that’s less than $500 a month.
“We’re getting people coming in who don’t even have enough income right now to pay what our average home provider is charging,” Joucovsky said.
Vermeer was able to save so much money while rooming with his home provider from 2018 to 2021 that he paid off $70,000 in student loan debt. In addition to the financial boon, Vermeer said the multigenerational living made him feel more connected to his community as his roommate introduced him to friends and family and had him over for holiday gatherings and parties.
“It was like having a surrogate family out here,” Vermeer said. “There’s something unique and special to me about intergenerational housing.”
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