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Press Contact: Alyse Booth 718-643-4877/917-648-1382
For Immediate Release: February 6, 2008

Finding a perfect housemate and affordable housing just got a lot easier with Quick-Match, New York Foundation for Senior Citizens’ free Home Sharing service’s unique database, designed to instantly pair participants of all ages in all five boroughs. More sophisticated than other housemate databases, Quick-Match allows Home Sharing’s professional staff to input 31 preferences of potential housemates and—with one click of the mouse—immediately determine the most compatible matches.

Quick-Match asks all the questions any New Yorker would ask a potential roommate—“Do you smoke?” “Do you have a pet or want to live with someone who has a pet?” “Will you be having visitors of the opposite sex?”—but it also asks questions that target the concerns of the matching service’s 60-and-over participants, such as “How many steps can you climb?” and “Do you have overnight visitors?”

Here is how Home Sharing works: prospective adult “hosts” who have private
bedrooms available within their homes are matched with appropriate adult “guests” to share their living spaces. One of the “matchmates” must be age 60 or over. In addition, the program matches hosts ages 55 and over with adults with a developmental disability capable of independent living.

“As always, our professional staff personally interview all potential hosts and guests and check their references. But now, with Quick-Match, the staff can instantly identify the most appropriate matchmates,” says Linda Hoffman, President, New York Foundation for Senior Citizens.

Maxine Glorsky, a 67-year-old stage manager for dance companies, with a spare bedroom in her spacious Greenwich Village apartment, found Home Sharing a perfect solution to dealing with rising expenses. She also discovered the benefit of sharing her home with a younger woman, Amy Ronek, a 32-year-old Iowan who works at Barnes and Noble, whose energy and intellectual interests are similar to her own.

The two women clicked on their first meeting. “Amy has an upbeat personality and we are both impassioned about our work,” says Ms. Glorsky. Adds Ms. Ronek: “Everything just fell into place very quickly with Home Sharing. When Maxine has tickets to a performance she is involved with, she often invites me. It is such a delight being part of Maxine’s world.”

The benefits of Home Sharing include providing safe, affordable housing, companionship and a sense of security, easing financial burdens and reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness. Prior to the move in, the service offers a license agreement to help hosts and guests feel secure in their shared living arrangement. Guests contribute toward hosts’ monthly household expenses and, in some cases, provide household help or other services in exchange for reduced payment.

To learn more about the free Home Sharing service, please call 212-962-7559 or email
aforsman@nyfscltcop.org. You may also visit www.nyfsc.org.

Home Sharing is administered by New York Foundation for Senior Citizens through funding from New York State and New York City legislators, New York State Office for the Aging, New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, New York City Department for the Aging and private contributions. Established in 1968, New York Foundation for Senior Citizens is the only non-profit, non-sectarian organization serving New York’s seniors in all five boroughs. New York Foundation for Senior Citizens is dedicated to helping New York’s seniors enjoy healthier, safer, and more productive and dignified lives. ###