With an empty bedroom and rising bills, Darby pitched the unconventional idea of intergenerational home sharing after Flett opened up about his own housing struggles.
“She was just like ‘I’ve got a spare room – how about you chuck me some cash and you can stay here as long as you need while you’re studying’,” Flett said.
“I had my doctor actually ask me ‘do you trust this man?’ I said, ‘totally,” Darby said.
The gardener and budding comedian moved in with Darby and stayed for almost 18 months.
“I think he got that idea pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to make any rules except for the tea towels,” Darby said.
Flett and Darby are part of a growing movement matching older landlords with renters, in a bid to offer a quick fix to one of the country’s biggest problems.
About 13 million spare bedrooms are sitting empty across Australia while young people are struggling to find a home.
While the pair met by chance, others are connecting through a social enterprise called Life Shared.
Co-founder Jacinta Duffy believes the concept could be the answer to Australia’s rental crisis.
“We are a matching service and we’re also a monitoring service, so the matching is really intensive, and it is doing background checks, it is doing police checks,” Duffy said.
Advocates are calling on the government to help unlock the millions of spare rooms across the country, with concerns current legislation could penalise aged pensioners for opening their door to those looking for a home.
Queensland University of Technology’s Dr Lyndall Bryant said intergenerational home sharing happens “all over the world”.
“It just doesn’t have a big take-up in Australia because it’s not well understood,” Bryant said.
“We can fix this crisis right now, and the government could fix it at the swipe of a pen,” Queensland University of Technology’s Dr Lyndall Bryant said.
“We have our existing housing stock, let’s use it more effectively and build community.”
It’s certainly worked out well for Flett, who was able to move out with savings, plus lots of material for his show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
Meanwhile, Darby’s in the market for a new roomie.
“Well, Max says get somebody else, and I said I’ll never get another Max, but I have thought about it,” she said.
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