Shared Housing

The effort to prevent and end homelessness among Veterans has shown significant progress over the past few years;

dozens of communities have now been confirmed by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, U.S. Department of

Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) as having achieved the Federal Criteria

and Benchmarks for Ending Veteran Homelessness. VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program (SSVF)

continues to show success despite tight rental markets with increasing rents. This success is often attributable to the

flexibility the program gives to SSVF grantees and Veterans in finding creative ways to secure and sustain permanent

What is Shared Housing?

Shared housing is defined as two or more people who live in one permanent rental housing unit, sharing costs

associated with maintaining housing such as rent and utilities. In SSVF, the assisted Veteran must be listed on the lease

(SSVF does not prescribe lease status for non-SSVF tenants) and their portion of the rent must be proportional to the

amount of private space that Veteran has in relation to the other tenants. The overall size of the unit is dictated by the

co-housing tenants’ preferences, available income, and the cost of rent and utilities. While many tenants will want their

own bedroom, they may, in some cases, voluntarily agree to share a bedroom. What’s important to remember is that

shared housing is permanent rental housing, in that the Veteran is on the lease and has full tenancy rights.

Who is Eligible for Shared Housing?

Any Veteran or Veteran family may opt for shared housing. There is no requirement that all of the tenants in the shared

housing are encouraged to work with landlords to customize the lease to the housing situation, either through

independent lease agreements (recommended) or by including a description of housing arrangement within the lease.

Advantages of Shared Housing

Reducing the rent burden is often the most important benefit to shared housing arrangements—and it can be the only

way some extremely low-income renters can obtain and sustain housing in a high-rent community. But there can be

other benefits, as well: families with small children could share childcare, which can otherwise be an enormous expense

for low-income families; shared housing can reduce loneliness and isolation; and if two people are pursuing a common

lifestyle choice, such as sobriety, they may be able to encourage and reinforce each other. In some cases, a homeowner

with physical limitations may be able to benefit from renting a room to someone who can help with physical chores in

exchange for reduced cost housing.

 Interpersonal Issues. People who live together must negotiate many aspects of daily life. Conflicts will arise

and may require third-party (such as the SSVF case manager) intervention. SSVF grantees need to be willing and

able to help mediate these types of situations.

 Landlord Challenges. Based on the landlord’s demands, some programs may need to coordinated month-to-

month independent leases, so that each tenant has a lease with the landlord even though they share housing.

However, this arrangement can represent an increased financial risk for landlords. If one tenant moves out, is

the other tenant responsible for the full rent? Or does the landlord risk losing that share of the rent? These are

important issues to discuss and resolve before the Veteran enters into a shared housing arrangement. The

impact of one tenant moving out should be described within the independent leases. Where possible,

agreements with landlords, even if informal, should be made prior to move-in so that if one tenant in shared

housing situations often require additional assistance after move-in and potentially even post discharge from

SSVF, these Veterans shall be offered follow-up housing placement support and even potential enrollment in

homelessness prevention services.

How do Programs Facilitate Shared Housing?

 Offer the option. Not all program participants will want to share housing. However, it should be presented and

 Select (or Construct) a “Tenant Matching Tool”. Some programs have used questionnaires to suggest

 Landlord/Tenant Supports. Decide, in advance, the supports that will be available to both the tenants and the

 Have a Plan B. Sometimes, shared housing situations become intolerable, due to personality/lifestyle

inevitable rough patches. Here are a couple of examples of how this might look in practice: