LEWISTON, Idaho — At the age of 82, Sandra Luke Boyer relishes her independence in her three-bedroom home where she lives with her English bulldog, Missy.
She drives to the supermarket to buy groceries, cooks her meals, mends clothes and washes her laundry.
But two winters ago, Boyer, who is gradually losing use of her muscles from a rare condition called inclusion body myositis, faced the expensive possibility of having to move to a retirement community.
Walking out to get the newspaper at the end of her driveway, she fell on black ice and broke one of her shoulders. The accident left her with a fear of walking on any uneven surface outside.
Boyer overcame that limitation using an app, Olive & Coop, that her daughter, Robin Albers, a Clarkston city councilor, developed with her partner, Dr. Natale Carasali, a pediatrician.
“It’s an innovative house sharing platform, primarily for seniors who have a room to rent,” Albers said.
Untapped resources
App users, Albers and Carasali said, are pioneering new, safe ways to share living spaces.
Seniors often live alone in the large homes where they raised their families. On the other end of the spectrum are college students and young people just starting their careers struggling to pay rent.
The app bridges the gap between the two generations, providing extra income and, in many cases, nonmedical help for senior homeowners.
In the case of Boyer, the app introduced her to Avalon Zborowski, 22, who moved in three months ago. The Lewis-Clark State College junior is completing prerequisites to enter the school’s nursing program.
Zborowski spends about one hour each day doing chores, mostly ones that involve going outside, such as walking Missy, getting the mail and carrying groceries into the house.
In exchange, she pays $420 in rent, significantly less than what Zborowski believes she would spend for an apartment with similar amenities.
The rent includes utilities, Wi-Fi, use of the washer and dryer, the kitchen and all the common areas of the house.
Like traditional roommates, each of them have their own routines. Zborowski attends classes, studies at the library and works 20 hours a week at a Moscow nursing home for dementia patients.
While their paths rarely cross during the day, Zborowski’s presence is a comfort, Boyer said.
“I’m slowly deteriorating and I know it’s going to continue,” Boyer said. “I like the companionship … just to know she’s here if I need help.”
The thinking behind the concept
The stage where Albers and Carasali could go live with Olive & Coop was more than a year in the making.
Each of them brings relevant experience to the table. She understands the nuts and bolts of running a business from owning several ventures, including a coffee house in Clarkston that later turned into a wine bar. He understands what happens to seniors physically as they age.
Olive & Coop remains in its infancy. So far it has matched three roommates and serves homeowners in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington, but Albers and Carasali believe the concept has vast potential.
“We know that loneliness and isolation is like smoking 15 cigarettes a day,” she said.
Part of why they think it will work is that it has benefits for both sides.
“Over 50% of renters in the United States are cost burdened, which means they’re struggling to make ends meet because they’re spending over 30% of their income on rent and utilities,” she said.
The details of how to introduce seniors to Gen Z have been complicated. They examined dozens of best practices and put the app and website through the paces with focus groups before it went live.
What Olive & Coop offers
The website allows users to search housing based on price, a residence’s amenities, responsibility type, pet policies, smoking rules and rental periods.
It also provides a sample rental agreement as well as advice for homeowners and potential roommates about how to decide on living arrangements. The site recommends both parties do background checks, view each other’s social media and be specific about what the details of the arrangement are in writing.
It’s a good idea, Albers said, to figure out what the market value rent would be for the room and establish a per-hour rate for the work the housemate will perform and identify what chores the housemate will do.
How much Olive & Coop will charge is something Albers and Carasali are still deciding.
At this time, homeowners and potential housemates can browse the site for free, but are charged when roommates are placed in homes. Varying levels of service are available for homeowners.
The website and app are designed so that tech-savvy seniors can complete the process on their own in consultation with grown children and other family members, he said.
But Olive & Coop can also provide help with the posts, interviewing potential roommates and even send an employee to prepare the space in the home for the housemate.
Possibilities for broader markets
As they perfect the model, they anticipate introducing it throughout the United States and eventually internationally.
They also see potential for any number of cooperative living situations. Itinerant nurses might stay with seniors.
And the model might even flip-flop with the older individual being the helper for younger people. A widow, for example, might become a roommate of a family with young children, where both of the parents work. The widow might drive the children to and from school and be at home in the afternoon when the children might otherwise need to go to day care.
The form the growth takes will involve what Albers and Carasali learn from the early users of the app.
Lots of common ground
What they’re seeing so far is more interaction than they anticipated between homeowners and housemates.
Boyer and Zborowski have discovered some mutual interests they enjoy together, such as watching baking shows.
Zborowski is new to the area. As her social circle expands, she hopes to host Bible studies or movie nights with her friends, something that Boyer is encouraging.
“If you’re going to have a happy relationship,” Boyer said, “you have to share, not just the physical space, but mentally to have a give and take.”
Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.