Home on a budget: creative living solutions

  SpacesShared, an online platform that helps pair seniors with empty rooms in their homes with students, has recently been launched in Newfoundland and Labrador.
  CEO Rylan Kinnon says the app uses an algorithm to match compatible students with older hosts interested in home sharing. [...] “We verify the host's identity and their address. We verify the student's identity and that they are in fact enrolled at a post secondary institution,” he said.
  “Once they've actually connected through the platform, we support them. We check in with them a week after the student moves in and every month and if we identify any issues through that survey, we follow up with a phone call.”
  Students of Memorial University, College of the North Atlantic, Keyin College and Academy Canada have long had trouble finding safe, affordable places to live while attending school.
  Kinnon said the operation is a win-win for the host and the student, as it solves a problem while building a meaningful relationship.

  “[The host] gets help around the house if they're looking for it, they get companionship and they get extra income. The student gets a safe, affordable bedroom and they also get the opportunity, especially if they're new to the community, or if they're an international student, their host can be a bit of a community guide for them.” […]
  Here's how it works: the host sets the rent, and then they can ask for up to five hours of assistance per week with tasks around the home from a defined list of tasks, including changing light bulbs, shovelling snow and taking out the trash. The platform reduces monthly rent by five per cent per weekly hour of assistance, so a student can get up to a 25 percent discount on the set rent by helping out around the house five hours a week.
“The cheapest one of our matches is paying right now $415 a month, which is amazing,” Kinnon said.