Published on Liberal Democrat voice By Ewan Hoyle | Published 28th December 2011 – 1:55 pm

Those elderly and alone at this time of year need attractive alternative housing options.

It is greatly to the BBC news team’s credit that they continue to highlight the plight of those less fortunate as the majority of us look forward excitedly to Christmas. Following on from their piece on homelessness on Wednesday, on Thursday they highlighted the issue of loneliness and isolation among the elderly at this traditionally sociable time of the year.

Homelessness and isolation in old age are two of the most pressing issues resulting from our growing and ageing population. The fantastic work of caring charities helps to lessen the emotional strife that sufferers endure, but we really need to try to come up with ideas to prevent people arriving in these situations in the first place.

On watching the BBC piece on Thursday, my mind flashed back to a think tank report published earlier in the year. The rather crudely titled “Hoarding of Housing: The Intergenerational Crisis in the Housing Market.” drew attention to the increasing number of homes with 2 or more bedrooms lying empty, and the increasing likelihood that these homes would be owned by people in their 60s, 70s and beyond.

Watching the elderly ladies in the BBC news piece, it’s likely that some of them had two or more bedrooms lying empty in their houses. But I’m not inclined to deride them as hoarders as the Intergenerational Foundation do. Rather, these elderly women seem to me more likely to be stuck, resigned to living out their remaining years in solitude, and unaware of any means to escape this fate.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Rather than downsize as the IF suggests, perhaps we should be offering retired people who live alone the opportunity to instead condense their housing. One or more people could sell up and move into the vacant spare rooms in another household. Hundreds of thousands of students share housing at the beginning of their adult lives for both financial and social reasons. Why should those nearing the end of their adult lives not have the option of doing the same in order to address the same economic and social concerns?

There are a multitude of models that could be offered. Younger, healthier retired people could consider selling up and moving to lodge with another older person. Perhaps their new home could be within a short distance of their young grandchildren or just in a new part of the country that they are keen to explore. The home-owner might be delighted for the rental income and the company that comes with it.

Should people require help around the house, they could take in a young lodger who might provide that help for a specified number of hours per week in return for free or cheap lodging. This model can also provide an ideal solution for students struggling with housing costs.

There are existing services in the UK which seek to match elderly people living alone with young people, but the multitude of different models that are offered by services in the US haven’t materialised in the UK. Research from the US suggests intergenerational home-sharing tackles loneliness, and helps most participants feel safer and happier in their home. So surely the idea of an inter- (and intra-) generational home-sharing service could help us far more than a think-tank serving up intergenerational resentment.

Charities and volunteers do fantastic work helping the homeless and lonely elderly at Christmas. But just think of the impact that could be made if thousands of volunteers around the country dedicated themselves to matching the elderly and isolated to suitable lodgers and house-mates and supporting these clients to greater happiness and prosperity.

Not every elderly person living alone would wish to use this service, but by not offering it we pass up an opportunity to bring joy to those who would jump at the chance, and we make it harder to provide shelter for all of our citizens.

To have a national home-share matching and support service is my festive wish for this year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

*Ewan Hoyle will be a member of the Policy Committee from 1 January 2012.