Postponing as much as possible the moment of departure in a retirement home, especially in a nursing home, and living independently while maintaining rich social relationships without weighing on their children, all over 60s think about it. “With two couples of friends, with the approach of retirement and our children having settled into life, we want to grow old together, take advantage of what we are still in great shape to create a collective habitat where we can share moments but also means and costs “, explains Philippe Jacquier, gallery owner in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis). Serviced residences for seniors, which are too commercial and standardized, are not for them, these baby boomers who sometimes, in their youth, lived in the community and have fond memories of it.
Christian Bidaud, 60 years old, teacher, published on the ecological site Terra eco an advertisement to share his large house of 130 square meters, with garden, located near Montpellier and where he lives alone: “During the Covid crisis, I saw that the place was well suited to cohabitation. I had a dozen responses to my ad, most of them from seniors. There is a demand… I am also thinking, with a friend, about an eco-place project for seniors offering a lot of entertainment and cultural activities. “
Without answer
“I would live in Germany or the Netherlands, I would have immediately found a roommate for seniors, because this collective housing method is much more developed there, but where I am looking, in Normandy, I realize that it is very difficult “, regrets Andréane, Parisian of 76 years, whose announcements on the same site remain unanswered.
Richard Horbette is the founder of Locservice, a platform for connecting potential roommates. He finds that “6% of requests come from retirees with an average age of 66 and 1,611 euros per month of income. Their primary motivation is certainly to reduce the housing budget, but the social aspect is very important, they want to meet new people and not live alone ”.
“The generation which is over 60 and was itself confronted with the great old age of its parents, wants to anticipate its own” – Jacqueline Decultis, founder of Maisons Marguerite
“The generation which, today, is over 60 and was itself confronted with the great old age of its parents, wants to anticipate its own”, analyzes Jacqueline Decultis, former nurse and director of a home care company. In 2015, she founded the Maisons Marguerite, large and beautiful buildings, old cures, hotels or mansions, with gardens, located in rural towns. There are already seven, soon to be ten, which accommodate shared flats of eight to nine seniors on average 87 years old, supported and helped by three permanent employees. “I have noticed that as soon as they arrive here, after a period of adaptation, they go better, assures Mme Decultis. The key is a good hostess who smooths out the difficulties, the little daily annoyances, because, of course, there are some, and above all is a good cook, knowing, with the help of the inhabitants, how to cook their dishes for them. favorite, with fruits and vegetables from the garden “, she confides.
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