Lackawanna County will look for people to share homes

Borys Krawczeniuk, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·3 min read

Dec. 12—Lackawanna County will soon try to match residents who have extra room in their homes with people looking for an affordable place to live.

By spring, the county hopes to have one or two matches in place as part of the state's Shared Housing and Resource Exchange Program, said Jason Kavulich, director of the county Area Agency on Aging.

State, local and county officials gathered Friday at a Pike County news conference to announce the addition of Lackawanna, Bucks, Montgomery, Northumberland and Philadelphia counties to the program. Started five years ago as a pilot program in Wayne, Pike and Monroe counties, it previously added Adams, Carbon, Crawford, Snyder and Union counties.

So far, the counties have developed more than 90 matches, with four lasting more than three years and a Monroe County one still active, according to the state Department of Aging. Home seekers pay rent or help around the house, or a combination. Participants must be at least 18 years old, and one must be older than 60.

"The older adults get companionship, and a little bit of assistance, not necessarily someone who's going to do personal care, but hands-on help," Kavulich said. "They'll help with the dishes, help with the vacuuming, they can help with the laundry, in exchange for being able to live there and/or vice versa, if the older adult goes to live with somebody too."

Kavulich said he and NeighborWorks NEPA are developing processes for applications and screening backgrounds of potential matches. Finding the right match can be tough.

"I mean, you're introducing a stranger into someone's home," Kavulich said. "Cohabitating is hard and you're dealing with personalities, and (someone says) 'You've got the TV on too loud' and 'I don't like that music' and 'what is that you're cooking because it stinks.' There are real things that make this program challenging."

At the news conference, recorded and available online, Larisa Yusko, a program counselor for Pike and Wayne counties, recalled a married couple with a wife who couldn't walk because of a stroke. They hosted a woman who helped with chores. Another host, an older woman, took in a homeless high school student.

"She was a mentor to him for his last year of high school, and her lawn never looked better," Yusko said.

One program host at the news conference, the Rev. David Rude, 80, a retired church minister who lives in Pike County, offered space to a 32-year-old woman.

"I am the world's worst housekeeper," he said. "So now I have the dishes washed and the garbage taken out every week. ... But it's a mutual thing. ... It's nice to be helpful because this lady has MS and some other serious things. And I get to help her and encourage her and she gets to just say 'hi' once in a while."

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.