Anyone can sign up as host as long as you can offer a suitable room. This can be in your family home or a flat or house you share with friends. It can work if you own your home or if you’re renting your home from a landlord.
Yes, you will need to cover the costs involved in providing accommodation to your guest which may include rent if you are a tenant.
In order to avoid uncertainty for the guest, and given the administrative effort involved, we arrange placements for a period to be agreed but usually a minimum of 3 months. Initially there will be a trial week so both host and guest can get to know each other before they commit to the 3 month stay.
We need some hosts to act as back-up to cover emergency or temporary situations. So you can still get involved even if you can only offer accommodation for short periods of time for instance several days or several weeks.
The principle aim of our project is to promote the experience of living together, but we are happy to forward your offer to another relevant organisation in the region.
It is important that your guest lives in the same conditions as all of the other residents of your home. They need privacy, dignity and stability so we can only accept hosts offering a bedroom.
You should have a spare bedroom in a flatshare or family home with a bed, wardrobe, desk, lamp, shared bathroom and living room, window, and heating.
Before you move in together, you and your future flatmate meet up and get to know each other and see how you get along. Should problems arise during the time of co-habitation, the same rules apply as with any other flatmate – you try and find a solution, if needed with our assistance. If it doesn’t work out, you can cancel the agreement.
All applications from potential hosts will be assessed and offered and prioritised based on need, regardless of their status.