Esther, the rent is due! NYU pilots program for student-and-senior housing

In NYUspeak, it's “an intergenerational homestay program”

NYU Students (Credit: NYU)
NYU Students (Credit: NYU)

It’s a sitcom waiting to happen. (Or be written.)

NYU is piloting a program in which 10 students will have the option to live with a senior citizen at a nearby housing complex in order to cut their housing costs.

The initiative, described as an “intergenerational homestay” program, is part of an affordability program, and participating students will have their housing costs halved. The average cost of living in an NYU residence halls is toughly $13,000, according to a post by NYU’s Affordability Steering Committee.

The school will partner with University Settlement House, a nonprofit that provides social services for senior citizens, and will match students with residents with a spare bedroom at a nearby senior housing complex.

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A similar program has been around for 33 years in Chicago, where up to 10 students from four participating universities live rent-free in a retirement home in exchange for 20 hours a week of housekeeping, grocery shopping and computer lessons.

NYU’s post did not mention any such requirements.

The program is set to begin in fall 2017. [NYP]Chava Gourarie