Speaker 1: Joining me to talk about this super cool program that
Speaker 1: Metropolitan State Go Roadrunners has to help students find housing
Speaker 1: is Abbi Kel. She's the MSU Associate director of Basic
Speaker 1: Needs and Housing Support. Abby, Welcome to the show. First
Speaker 1: of all, thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about this program where you are helping
Speaker 1: students find housing and you're going to an interesting source
Speaker 1: to find it.
Speaker 3: But let me ask you this question first.
Speaker 1: MSU is more of what we would call a commuter
Speaker 1: campus in that you don't have traditional dormitories and things
Speaker 1: like that. So is finding housing for your students in
Speaker 1: this extremely pricey rental market is it challenging overall?
Speaker 3: How does your department work on that?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 4: You know, MSU is always known as a commuter, commuter campus,
Speaker 4: and it's a kind of a little bit of yes
Speaker 4: and a kind of a little bit of no. Because
Speaker 4: while students, even students who are considered commuter students, they
Speaker 4: still have to have housing, they still have to have
Speaker 4: a place to live. And we're finding more and more students,
Speaker 4: whether they're a commuter or traditional or living closing campus,
Speaker 4: are just experiencing the heavy burdis some of the high
Speaker 4: cost of rent in Denver, and students are particularly struggling
Speaker 4: with that because they still have to live within the
Speaker 4: Denver market. There's really no reduced rates and costs for students,
Speaker 4: and so we're seeing more and more every single year
Speaker 4: of increase of students coming to us asking for resources, relocations, options,
Speaker 4: and just general navigation on how to do this.
Speaker 1: So where this program that we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: today in this Does this program have a specific name?
Speaker 4: Yeah, So the program is its own nonprofit. It is
Speaker 4: called Sunshine Home Share, and so it's its own nonprofit
Speaker 4: that we partner with to match students up with a
Speaker 4: senior citizen in the community to live in their house,
Speaker 4: to pay rent in their house, but also provide community
Speaker 4: in that house as well. It's not for everyone. It's
Speaker 4: not a perfect but it's definitely part of the housing
Speaker 4: conversation we're having because not one solution is going to
Speaker 4: fix all for our students, but it is a great
Speaker 4: option for folks seeking an alternative.
Speaker 2: How an alternative option that's not just renting from a partner.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I don't think we do
Speaker 1: well in this country is intergenerational living, because around the world,
Speaker 1: intergenerational living is the standard in many countries, meaning you
Speaker 1: may have a household with the grandmother, the parents, and
Speaker 1: the kids grown kids under one roof, but and you'll
Speaker 1: stay there until you get married. Kind of thing in
Speaker 1: many countries. But I think here we're so spread out
Speaker 1: and we're so independent that we lose that. So what
Speaker 1: are some of the benefits for the young people or
Speaker 1: for the students that may be taking advantage of this.
Speaker 4: You know, so far, the students that have taken advantage
Speaker 4: of this would be kind of your non traditional students,
Speaker 4: so would be returning to pursue a different career or
Speaker 4: change directions. And so so far the students we've seen
Speaker 4: are a little bit older, you know, later twenties, mid
Speaker 4: thirties that are seeking it out. But I think the
Speaker 4: benefits really are for both people. The benefits for the
Speaker 4: student one is achieve a rent. They're having to save
Speaker 4: a little bit money on their bills by paying a
Speaker 4: lower coross rent.
Speaker 2: They're also able to connect with.
Speaker 4: Someone in the community and then not might meet at school,
Speaker 4: at their work and someone that also comes from a
Speaker 4: different way of life in a background. And then also
Speaker 4: I think it comes with the community aspect of just
Speaker 4: I'm living in someone else's home and I am respecting
Speaker 4: their space.
Speaker 2: I'm respecting this person, and.
Speaker 4: We're learning how to live together, and we're learning how
Speaker 4: to thrive together as well, because while they have come
Speaker 4: from their own situation, you know, the person in the
Speaker 4: home who owns the home, who's sharing it with them,
Speaker 4: can share their insights of how they got to where
Speaker 4: they are and the growth and also even possible connections
Speaker 4: down the line for themselves in the future.
Speaker 1: So, no, you're not going to just like have somebody
Speaker 1: like say I sign up. Because I hate to say it,
Speaker 1: you said senior citizen. I'm fifty five, so technically I'm
Speaker 1: in this category and I'm not a senior citizen abbey.
Speaker 1: But that being said, you're not just going to like
Speaker 1: assign someone, right, I'm not just going to like open
Speaker 1: up my door to a complete stranger and have no
Speaker 1: say in that.
Speaker 3: How does the process work?
Speaker 4: No, that's a great question. You have to be super
Speaker 4: intentional one. It's not going to be for every student.
Speaker 4: So when I meet with students, when our case managers
Speaker 4: meet with students, we talk them through the options of
Speaker 4: what they have for housing. And it's usually a little
Speaker 4: bit farther down the list for our students, and when
Speaker 4: we get when we get to talking about it, we
Speaker 4: really upfront the whole process with them and make sure
Speaker 4: they understand because the Sunshine Home Share program does a
Speaker 4: really intentional job of doing backgrounds, doing meet and greets.
Speaker 4: They even do a temporary stay, so when the match
Speaker 4: is kind of through some of the process and they're
Speaker 4: seeing good signs, the student will actually do a two
Speaker 4: week temporary stay with the family and the home to
Speaker 4: see if it's actually a good fit.
Speaker 2: And then also ongoing they do ongoing case management.
Speaker 4: They check in in the home, they see if things
Speaker 4: are going well, and if things are not going well,
Speaker 4: they're able to mitigate it, talk about it, sit down
Speaker 4: and see what it is to help just with the
Speaker 4: transition process.
Speaker 1: So it seems to me like this may be a
Speaker 1: better fit for a more mature student. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can be a twenty year old mature student. Everybody that
Speaker 1: went to college knows that like the normal undergrad dorms
Speaker 1: where all the chaos was, but the graduate dorms were
Speaker 1: where all the calm, adult people lived.
Speaker 3: So it seems to me.
Speaker 1: Like perhaps this would be a better fit for a
Speaker 1: more mature student.
Speaker 2: I think so. I think so.
Speaker 4: I think it has worked a little bit better for
Speaker 4: some of our mature students, but I still don't shy
Speaker 4: away for some of our younger adults who might be
Speaker 4: more traditional in their younger twenties, because they too might
Speaker 4: have grown up in some multi generational households. Into them,
Speaker 4: it might seem like a good fit because that's used
Speaker 4: the home that they're already used to, and so it's
Speaker 4: like it's not going to be perfect for everyone. But
Speaker 4: I think it's really just exploring the option of how
Speaker 4: can I be a part of the community. How can
Speaker 4: I help someone keep themselves in their home? How can
Speaker 4: I also just have a cheaper rent for a couple
Speaker 4: of years so that I can achieve my long term goals.
Speaker 2: WI I'm in college.
Speaker 1: Where speaking of cheaper rent, how much cheaper? I mean
Speaker 1: you guys have a ballpark of what people are paying
Speaker 1: or is there a set amount?
Speaker 3: How does that work?
Speaker 2: There tends to be.
Speaker 4: Somewhere between five and seven hundred and fifty dollars for
Speaker 4: the student.
Speaker 2: That's how much they charge. It can really fluctuate based
Speaker 2: on just like.
Speaker 4: Where they are in the community, you know how close
Speaker 4: they are to transportation, but generally that's where it's that
Speaker 4: ballpark range is.
Speaker 1: Somebody just asks, I'm guessing the students would have their
Speaker 1: own transportation. So this is a you are renting from
Speaker 1: a landlord. Just like you would not expect to use
Speaker 1: your landlord's vehicle. You are going to have to provide
Speaker 1: for yourself on everything else, your food, your transportation, and
Speaker 1: all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you would have to have your own transportation.
Speaker 4: But then there's pros and cons of if you don't
Speaker 4: have transportation, seeing if there's a home share that is
Speaker 4: close to public transportation, or if you know, if you're
Speaker 4: a margaret commuter with a bike. In those kind of aspects,
Speaker 4: you can always rely on those. But yes, like some
Speaker 4: of the amenities like cars, food, household supplies like TVs
Speaker 4: and things like that, those are separated.
Speaker 1: Now do you have to have do you have any
Speaker 1: say on whether or not you rent to a male
Speaker 1: or a female?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 4: And also just like people have different preferences on what
Speaker 4: they feel safe and comfortable with the story we did
Speaker 4: through red. Actually the homeowner that was seeking someone to
Speaker 4: do a room share originally wanted a female, but just
Speaker 4: through a handful of interviews, landed on the student TJ
Speaker 4: and just felt really comfortable and safe with them.
Speaker 2: So you can do like preferences on who you would.
Speaker 4: Like to reside with, because both sides want to respect
Speaker 4: everyone's choice and safety in that and no one wants
Speaker 4: to be uncomfortable in their home, the renter or the homeowner.
Speaker 3: How can people sign up?
Speaker 1: As I said to you off the air, Abby, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I bet you there are people listening to the show
Speaker 1: right now who would love the little extra and come
Speaker 1: and maybe love the company right because when you're an
Speaker 1: empty nester and all the kids are gone, you may
Speaker 1: find out that you don't love living by yourself. How
Speaker 1: can people get involved? Sign up or get more information?
Speaker 2: So there's a couple different ways.
Speaker 4: The first thing I would direct you to the Sunshine
Speaker 4: Homeshare website, and that Sunshine Homeshare website is just Sunshinehomeshare
Speaker 4: dot org. And you can look at the website, you
Speaker 4: can look at the application process, you can look at
Speaker 4: the screening on the tenant side and as well as
Speaker 4: the homeowner side, and you can apply, or you can
Speaker 4: also just reach out and ask questions the staff. They
Speaker 4: are wonderful and love to talk about this program because
Speaker 4: they're very passionate about it.
Speaker 3: Well, I find it interesting.
Speaker 1: I was looking at their website and it says Geriatric
Speaker 1: social Workers staff by experienced geriatric social workers that have
Speaker 1: education and backgrounds working with homebound older adults and are
Speaker 1: knowledgeable about social work based home sharing. So this is
Speaker 1: not just some really nearly you know like rental site.
Speaker 1: This is an apartments dot com. This is much more complex.
Speaker 2: It's an Evidence Bates model.
Speaker 4: So it's been researched on how it keeps, you know,
Speaker 4: seniors in their homes. It keeps them also longer longevity
Speaker 4: in their lifespans, and then also the support to the
Speaker 4: tenant as well, providing a vital piece that they need
Speaker 4: affordable housing to live in wherever they are in their life.
Speaker 3: Abi Kel, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I love that Metro State did a story on this
Speaker 1: because I would have never known it, and I think
Speaker 1: it is one of the coolest programs. One of my
Speaker 1: favorite favorite people is a lady named Hazel, and Hazel's
Speaker 1: in her nineties now, but she has a tenant in
Speaker 1: her home named Bill, and Bill has now become so
Speaker 1: much more than a tenant for Hazel and I see
Speaker 1: that relationship and that's the first thing I thought of
Speaker 1: when I thought of this program, is how much they
Speaker 1: both get from each other in terms of that relationship
Speaker 1: that started as a tenant landlord relationship and now has
Speaker 1: become so much more. So well done, and I hope,
Speaker 1: I hope lots of my listeners take advantage of this.
Speaker 1: Somebody asks, how far can they live from the college.
Speaker 1: Is there a perimeter that you need to be within?
Speaker 2: No, I mean it's really.
Speaker 4: Just based off that again, the tenant if they're comfortable
Speaker 4: with it, So I mean they can expand from Boulder
Speaker 4: all the way to look Side.
Speaker 2: And so that's you know, that's who they're who are to.
Speaker 4: Be owning the homes and if the student is comfortable
Speaker 4: with that type of commune, then the match.
Speaker 2: Can move forward.
Speaker 3: Abby.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time today, and thanks
Speaker 1: Metro State for publicizing this program.
Speaker 3: I think it's super cool. Not just for students.
Speaker 1: We should say, if you go to Sunshine Home share
Speaker 1: Colorad it's not just students, so there's lots of opportunity there.
Speaker 1: I would urge you to check it out. Abby, Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, for your time today.
Speaker 2: Thank you. You have a good one all right.
Speaker 3: That is Abby Kel from Metropolitan State University