A PIONEERING scheme for students to avoid sky-high rents by moving into the spare rooms of elderly people’s homes to provide support is a potential solution to both the housing and care crisis, it has been claimed.

Home-share arrangements see an older person with a spare room take on a younger tenant who, in return for reduced rent, agrees to provide companionship and help with minor tasks around the home.

Well established in the Netherlands, the concept has also sprung up in London, Oxford and many other parts of England.

Although a Scottish trial set up in Fife failed last year, attempts are now being made in Edinburgh to revive it.

With many older couples living in large family homes after their children fly the nest, and many young people struggling to afford rising rents or get on the housing ladder, home-share has been described as a potential solution to the housing crisis while also relieving strain on social services, helping reduce loneliness and social isolation among the elderly.

Humanitas, in the Dutch City of Deventer, is a 180-room home for the elderly built with six additional student flats where tenants receive free rent provided they agree to volunteer for 30 hours a week in their neighbours’ properties.

Hermien Feberwee, assistant manager at Humanitas, said: “They may drink a cup of coffee with the older person or take them shopping, fix the TV if there is something wrong with it, or go for a walk.”

When rooms become free they are oversubscribed. A panel, on which elderly residents are represented, selects new student residents.

“They want to know: ‘Is it coming from your heart?’” Mr Feberwee explained.

The scheme has had interest from all over the world, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Norway.

In the UK, versions of home-share tend to see older people inviting young tenants to come and live in their own homes to provide help and company, at low or reduced cost.

While help with shopping, cleaning and other tasks around the home are expected, more personal care tasks are generally excluded, but companionship is often the most important element.

The approach tends to work best in cities where rents are exorbitantly high and there is a demand for affordable accommodation.

A pilot project set up in North East Fife last year with £10,000 cash from the Big Lottery fund, along with the backing of Fife Council and the Government social enterprise support scheme First Port, failed within 12 months, due to a lack of funding and problems attracting sufficient tenants.

But Tim Moore, spokesman for Shared Lives Plus, a social enterprise which supports home-share schemes, says despite the setback there are plans to set up a matching service in Edinburgh.

Rose Brotchie, policy and research manager for housing charity Shelter Scotland said: “There are many older people in properties which are effectively too big for them.

“Some want to stay in their home and don’t want to move but can struggle,” she added, “and may be affected by things like the bedroom tax. But home-share could be an ideal solution.

“There are examples of people without specific care requirements and with large properties who might well say to a younger person, stay with me, you can help manage bills and provide me with company.”