‘Where would we live otherwise?’: the rise of house-sitting among older Australians
<p>The severe lack of <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/providers/housing/affordable/about/chapters/what-is-affordable-housing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affordable housing</a> is hurting Australians right across the community – from young renters, to families seeking to buy and older people needing a stable home.</p>
<p>The number of Australians over 55 who are homeless jumped by 28% between the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/housing/census-population-and-housing-estimating-homelessness/latest-release" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2011 and 2016 censuses</a>.</p>
<p>An increasing lack of affordable housing is forcing some older people to take <a href="https://theconversation.com/generation-share-why-more-older-australians-are-living-in-share-houses-107183" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unconventional approaches</a> to finding a home. One of these is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-31/house-sitting-on-the-rise-for-older-people-in-financial-stress/11461726" target="_blank" rel="noopener">house-sitting</a>.</p>
<p>My new research published in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2021.1999612?journalCode=cage20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian Geographer</a>, looks at how this works – and how it doesn’t – for this often-vulnerable group.</p>
<h2>What is house-sitting?</h2>
<p>In exchange for free accommodation, house-sitters take care of the house (and garden and pets), while the owner is away. House-sitting episodes can be as short as one day to more than three years.</p>
<p>House-sitters use different methods to find a potential house-sitting property. Most rely on house-sitting websites and specific Facebook groups. Some people also find house-sitting opportunities through referrals and repeat bookings.</p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>In the first <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2021.1999612?journalCode=cage20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> of its kind, a colleague and I interviewed 20 Australians between 53 and 78, who had been house-sitting for more than a year.</p>
<p>Half our interviewees had permanent housing (either rental or owned) and were mainly casual house-sitters. The remaining were house-sitting full-time and had no permanent address.</p>
<p>We asked people about their experiences as older house-sitters and the impact of this type of housing on their well-being.</p>
<h2>A temporary relief from rental stress</h2>
<p>Almost half of the house-sitters we interviewed reported financial issues, such as unemployment, unstable or low-paid jobs and unaffordable housing as the main reason for starting house-sitting. Relationship breakdown that left people without a secure housing was the second most common reason.</p>
<p>They told us house-sitting provided temporary relief from the high and unrelenting costs of paying rent. As one interviewee noted:</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">It [house-sitting] is pretty essential, where would we live otherwise? So, we did rent for a little while, but money is an issue, because I am not earning enough yet to be paying rent […] [It] just happens to be a really good solution to the situation that we happen to be in.</span></p>
<p>In turn, this freed up funds to spend on other things, such as their health and social life.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">My husband gets his pension this year. So, [if we house-sit] it means that we will actually have an income, which means in theory we might actually save some money.</span></p>
<p>Less common reasons for starting house-sitting included free accommodation for travelling and spending time with animals.</p>
<h2>‘Gorgeous pets’</h2>
<p>Apart from saving money, interviewees described multiple benefits of house-sitting. The majority referred to the opportunity to travel and experience different places. </p>
<p>Participants also appreciated the opportunity to live in pleasant houses and meet new people. They liked the freedom, variety and “getting rid of unnecessary stuff”.</p>
<p>As one interviewee noted:</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">we were able to live in some beautiful homes and with gorgeous pets.</span></p>
<h2>But not feeling secure</h2>
<p>However, house-sitting, was not seen as a long-term option. Interviewees were concerned about the lack of security and increasing health needs as they aged.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Well, for short stays and holidays this [house-sitting] is viable, but for long-term you need to have plan B and C. As you see when COVID struck, it affected many people and some are staying in their cars even.</span></p>
<p>Most sitters also found the temporary, short-term nature of house-sitting made it difficult to engage in the local community and develop a sense of belonging.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">You might make temporary friends, but then you move on and leave the community.</span></p>
<p>Constant moving around also makes it hard to acquire local knowledge, which is particularly important in unforeseen circumstances, such as natural disasters. As one interviewee explained:</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">It was quite scary in the bushfire […] when suddenly you need to know […] where to go, where’s the evacuation centre […] If I was at home in my own place, I might be talking to friends or neighbours and making decisions together but […] the loneliness becomes obvious when something like that happens.</span></p>
<h2>Lack of transparency</h2>
<p>A further issue is the power imbalance. House-sitters have few, if any rights - home owners have ultimate control over their properties. House-sitters referred to a range of challenges because of the lack of clear agreement between parties.</p>
<p>These included disputes over the cost of housing repairs and disagreement on the property status when departing, such as how clean the house and how tidy garden should be.</p>
<p>Unexpected changes or cancellation of the house-sitting schedules by owners also contributed to feelings of insecurity and distress among older house-sitters.</p>
<h2>Making house-sitting more stable</h2>
<p>House-sitting may not yet be a widespread practice, but it is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-31/house-sitting-on-the-rise-for-older-people-in-financial-stress/11461726" target="_blank" rel="noopener">growing</a>. As it gains more prominence, we need transparent policies to specify the rights and entitlements of owners and sitters and address the inherent power imbalance.</p>
<p>We also need to investigate ways of making house-sitting a more secure proposition for people in the longer-term.</p>
<p>And to prioritise informed discussions about secure housing options for people as they age.</p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3e464ab3-7fff-e5db-a868-d8bc1b832136">This article originally appeared on The Conversation.</span></p>
<p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>
