SUPPORTMATCH HOMESHARE

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Could Better Community Connections Help Tackle Loneliness

Why Homeshare should be considered earlier within local support and referral pathways, especially for people living alone in isolated communities.

Content note This case study discusses bereavement, severe loneliness and suicide.

The questions communities need to ask

How many people are living alone after bereavement, with little regular companionship and a home that has become painfully quiet? How many remain independent and do not need formal care, but are becoming increasingly isolated? And how many might benefit if Homeshare were routinely considered by Adult Social Care, health services, housing organisations and community groups?

These questions matter because there is a gap between living independently and needing formal care. Someone may be able to manage their daily life while still experiencing severe loneliness, reduced confidence and a shrinking social network. In rural or poorly connected areas, limited transport can make that isolation even harder to address.

Homeshare can be one option within a wider network of support. It brings together a Householder who has a spare room and a carefully assessed Homesharer who can offer agreed companionship, practical help and a reassuring presence in return for affordable accommodation. It is not a replacement for mental-health care, safeguarding intervention or statutory services.

A real experience from Supportmatch illustrates both the potential of Homeshare and the difficulty of reaching people quickly enough when services and recruitment networks are not well connected.

The experience of Jonathan

“Jonathan” is not his real name. His name and certain identifying details have been changed to protect his identity and that of his family.

Jonathan approached Supportmatch Homeshare following the death of his wife. Bereavement had changed his life profoundly. The person with whom he had shared his home and everyday routines was no longer there, and the home they had shared had become an increasingly lonely place.

Jonathan was not approaching us because he wanted traditional care. What he was looking for was companionship, human connection and the reassurance of having another person living in his home.

Homeshare appeared to offer that possibility: a carefully vetted and matched person sharing his home while providing an agreed amount of companionship, practical help and a reassuring presence in return for affordable accommodation.

For Jonathan, Homeshare offered the possibility of remaining independent while making his home feel less empty.

Why finding the right person was difficult

Jonathan lived in a relatively isolated area where public transport and local amenities were limited. A suitable Homesharer realistically needed to drive and have access to transport. This significantly reduced the number of potential applicants.

Homeshare is not simply about finding someone who needs affordable accommodation. The person must also be compatible with the Householder, comfortable with the location, able to meet the practical requirements of the arrangement and successfully complete Supportmatch’s assessment, safeguarding and vetting processes.

We could not responsibly place someone with Jonathan simply because he was lonely. The match still had to be safe, sustainable and right for both people.

Supportmatch continued advertising, searching and speaking with potential Homesharers. However, the combination of Jonathan’s location, the need for a driver and a limited pool of suitable candidates meant that finding the right person took considerably longer than we had hoped.

Over approximately six months, Jonathan remained in regular contact with us. He called Supportmatch frequently, and those conversations increasingly showed how important companionship and human contact had become to him.

Sadly, before we were able to establish a suitable Homeshare arrangement, Jonathan died by suicide. His death had a profound impact on members of our team who had come to know him through those conversations.

We cannot know what would have happened

We have to be extremely careful when telling Jonathan’s story. We cannot know whether having a Homesharer would have changed the outcome.

Homeshare is not a mental-health service, clinical intervention or suicide-prevention service. It should never be presented as a substitute for professional mental-health support, safeguarding intervention or statutory services where these are required.

Nor would it be responsible to suggest that Jonathan’s death occurred simply because a Homesharer had not yet been found. His experience did, however, expose a wider issue that has remained with us ever since.

A small organisation cannot tackle loneliness in isolation

Supportmatch was searching for Jonathan using the resources, advertising channels and applicant network available to us. But imagine if that search had been connected to a much wider community infrastructure.

What if Homeshare were routinely understood and considered by Adult Social Care, social-prescribing services, voluntary and community organisations, housing teams, universities, employers, NHS organisations and other local services?

For someone living in an isolated location, that wider network could be particularly important. A local employer might know a key worker struggling with accommodation. A university or college might know a mature student with a car. A health or social-care organisation might know workers relocating into the area. A community organisation might know someone whose circumstances make Homeshare particularly suitable.

Supportmatch could continue to provide the specialist matching, assessment, vetting, safeguarding and ongoing monitoring, while partners help create a broader referral and recruitment network.

Greater integration could help services reach more people, widen the pool of potential Homesharers and offer another community-based option earlier.

We cannot say that such a system would have changed Jonathan’s outcome. We can say that closer partnership working could help organisations such as ours reach more people and identify potential matches more effectively, particularly in rural or poorly connected areas.

There is a space between independence and formal care

There are people who do not need residential care or extensive packages of commissioned care. They may still be capable of living independently, yet their circumstances can make them increasingly vulnerable.

A husband, wife or partner dies.

Children live far away and friends become less mobile.

Driving stops and a rural location makes social contact harder.

The telephone rings less often and, gradually, someone’s world becomes smaller.

This is the space in which Homeshare can potentially make an important contribution. A Homesharer can bring ordinary but meaningful moments into someone’s life: saying good morning, sharing a conversation or occasional meal, helping with a small household task, coming home in the evening and providing a reassuring overnight presence.

These things are not medical treatment and they are not formal care. They are human connection.

Homeshare should be part of the conversation

Jonathan’s story strengthened our belief that Homeshare should be better embedded within the range of community options considered when supporting people experiencing loneliness or beginning to struggle with living completely alone.

We would like to see stronger referral pathways between Homeshare organisations and Adult Social Care, NHS and primary-care services, social prescribing, housing organisations, universities, employers, and voluntary and community organisations.

This does not mean that everyone experiencing loneliness should receive a Homesharer. Homeshare will not be appropriate for everyone. It means ensuring that professionals, individuals and families know the option exists and can consider it at an earlier stage.

For organisations such as Supportmatch, partnership working could also provide access to broader community networks when trying to find the right Homesharer – especially in rural or isolated areas where traditional advertising may produce very few suitable candidates.

What we learned from Jonathan

Jonathan never received the Homeshare he was waiting for. That remains the most difficult part of his story.

We cannot rewrite what happened, and we cannot say that Homeshare would have prevented his death. We can learn from his experience.

For Supportmatch, one of those lessons is that tackling loneliness cannot be the responsibility of one organisation working alone. It requires communities, health services, Adult Social Care, housing organisations, voluntary organisations and Homeshare services to understand what each other can offer and, where appropriate, work together.

There may be many other people like Jonathan living quietly behind closed doors. They may not need a care home or personal care, but they may desperately need greater connection with the world around them. Somewhere in the same community may be another person struggling with the cost of accommodation who could offer companionship, practical help and presence.

The challenge is bringing those two people together – safely, appropriately and early enough for that relationship to develop.

Jonathan’s story is one reason Supportmatch continues to believe that Homeshare deserves a recognised place within the wider community system supporting people to remain connected, independent and living safely in their own homes.

Support and further information

If you are struggling or need someone to talk to, Samaritans is available free, day or night, on 116 123. You can also visit samaritans.org. If there is an immediate danger to life, call 999.

About Supportmatch Homeshare

Supportmatch brings together people who have a spare room with carefully assessed Homesharers who can offer agreed companionship, practical help and a reassuring presence in return for affordable accommodation. Homeshare is not a personal-care or emergency service.