McMaster Symbiosis is a housing project that matches McMaster students in need of low-cost housing with seniors who have a spare room and who could benefit from a bit of extra support and companionship.
Symbiosis volunteers help to identify a good housing match based on interests and needs of both parties. Seniors receive a small rent income in exhange for providing the room OR no rent in exhange for the room plus some extra help around the house (gardening, showveling, groceries, etc).
The aim of symbiosis McMaster is to enhance the emotional and financial well being of graduate students by helping them to find an affordable accommodation and a smoother integration into the McMaster community through this partnership with established community members, seniors. The aim is also to enhance the feeling of well being of seniors through social interactions with students, enabling them to share their life experiences, to feel that they are making a difference in someone’s life and hence, be re engaged in our community.
Learning Objectives:
1) Setting up an intergenerational cohousing program
2) Benefits for students and seniors
3) Sharing lessons learned from this pilot program.
This webinar is presented by Soumeya Abed, MSc, PhD , Research Scientist/Lecturer/ Social Entrepreneur, Department of Medicine McMaster University.
