In days gone by I would have been offered a one-bedroom council flat, but not any more
I’m a 65-year-old man living in a house-share near Salford, Manchester. I’ve been here for four years, maybe five – who’s counting? – and I share with four others. More and more over-60s are finding themselves in situations like mine. According to one flat-sharing site, there’s been a 239% increase in 55- to 64-year-olds looking for house-shares since 2011.
My housemates are all single men, like me, in their 40s and 50s. I’m the oldest of the group, but age doesn’t make much difference here, we all keep ourselves to ourselves. I think one of the housemates works in construction, another works at the Tesco down the road with me. I wouldn’t say there’s much sense of community here. Working shifts in low-wage jobs means we’re rarely all in the house together.
