Catholic Social Services launched a new program directly serving seniors called St. Anne’s Aging Services. According to Program Director, Katie Murphy, the first big push is to spread the word to the community about this new and completely free service. She has connected with various services around town that serve the elderly, has spoken at a senior center, enrolled the program on Helpline Volunteer Connections, and delivered posters to the Rapid City area parishes.

“Our first group of four volunteers will be trained at the end of September,” she said.

The program is two-fold: a volunteer network and a home-share option. St. Anne’s needs three types of people to succeed: 1) Volunteers whose training is provided. They make regular (weekly) home visits, do light housework, meal prep, drive to appointments, and provide companionship to a 62+ person living in their home

2) Those seeking affordable housing are employed or student adults looking for significantly reduced rent and willing to give five-to-seven hours of weekly assistance back to the home-owner. St. Anne’s runs background checks on all participants, drafts agreements, and provides ongoing support to ensure it is a safe and positive match for both parties.

3) Seniors (62+) people who could use a helping hand whether from a volunteer visit once a week; or a house-mate to share a room in their home which entails renting a space in exchange for extra monthly income plus help with light housework.

So far, in just the first 3 weeks since the program launched, two seniors have reached out wanting a volunteer to visit and there are two separate senior homeowners who are seeking a home-share renter match. In order to share one’s home, the space must include a bedroom and bathroom access; other shared space such as kitchen, laundry, garage etc will be negotiated in the written agreement. St. Anne’s writes the agreement along with the home-share match to include all the details and agreed upon service hours. Catholic Social Services performs the background checks.

“The ideal situation is a person who has extra space, could use a little extra help and is trying to age in place,” said Murphy. “There is also chronic loneliness happening now, especially with seniors, and the older population is only growing. We are trying to access the population who just need a little non-medical help. The home sharing option is in exchange for lower-than-average rent, typically $400 to $600 per month.”

“In the match making process we meet with the homeowner, do a house assessment, and ask what they would like in a renter. Sometimes it’s snow removal, gardening, cleaning, or laundry. Other times we have heard they would like a couple meals prepped during the week, their groceries picked up, or help with walking and cleaning up after pets. One of the first women we heard from wanted help lifting her heavy water softener salt bags.”

In government senior assistance programs there are rules people may not quite fit. “We are trying to meet the gap where people are aging in place yet need some assistance, but should not have to pay for it,” said Murphy.

To form the new program the CSS staff studied 62 nationwide home sharing programs, both religious and secular based, and they joined the National Shared Housing Network. “We have not found this type of home sharing program for the elderly in Rapid City,” she said. “We are excited that it helps the homeowner with extra income, and also may help younger people with affordable housing crisis in Rapid City.”

In the research phase they obtained a study by Elevate (an economic growth program) and learned that, based on average income, in the Rapid City area median rent should be no higher than $850 a month. In reality, rentals start at more than $ 1,100 and the vacancy for affordable housing is only 1%.

The program begins in the Rapid City metro area but as the program grows there will be room for expansion.

To learn more about the program, visit cssrapidcity.com or or call CSS at 605-348-6086