Are you looking for affordable housing? If so, then Project Match may be your answer.
Created to serve the poor and elderly of Santa Clara County, Project Match, caters to 1832 people.
Founded in 1977 by four senior women who, when faced with the prospect of losing homes they could no longer afford, joined forces by selling their homes and moving in together. Thus began the program Project Match and the Senior Match Programs.
According to Schaller, Project Match works to find providers who will offer rooms in their homes for $600 a month or less. The average rent in the Match Program is $550 a month.
According to Schaller, the program potentially provides further reductions in rents or small weekly stipends.
He said a number of providers have recently been requesting chores around the house and transportation to shopping and appointments. Willingness of seekers to perform such in-home services has often resulted in reduced rent for the seeker.
“If the Seeker chooses to provide these services and commit to a set number of hours per week, he or she can earn a modest amount of money,” said Schaller.
If the caretaker works 40 hours per week, the in-home work exchange program expects providers to give the caretaker a weekly stipend of $180 for a single provider or $200 for a couple. Anything less is traded for either a room or a room and board.
Project Match serves more than 1832 people with two programs: a Group Residence Program, in which a group of seniors share one of seven single family houses scattered throughout Santa Clara County, and the In-Home Work Exchange Program.
The In-Home Work Exchange Program “provides opportunities for seniors to receive enhanced services provided by younger people who … need a place to live.”
Seniors are referred to as “providers,” while those in need of housing are referred to as “seekers.”
Chris Schaller, Project Manager, said the program design is based on the value that seniors prefer to remain in their homes and communities for as long as possible.
“Therefore one goal of the Match Program [is to avoid] the institutionalization of seniors simply because they [can] no longer afford to live in their home,” Schaller said.
Project Match screens all seekers and providers to determine whether or not they are suitable for the program and want to share quarters. If both parties decide to share housing, they negotiate the rent within the limits established by the organization, and the conditions of sharing a home. The Project Match staff helps this process by facilitating the discussions.
Caregivers are asked to commit to sleeping in the home at least six nights per week.
However, the organizers stress that the program is not 24-hour service, nor is the seeker allowed to provide personal services such as bathing, dressing, helping to transfer from a wheelchair, or any service which brings the caregiver in contact with bodily fluids.
Caretakers are not trained to give any medication, or provide any medical care. If a provider needs such care, the project staff will provide them with the necessary resources.
The Project Match web site reports that the median income for Santa Clara County is $58,000. Seventy-nine percent of seekers and 61 percent of providers are living on 35 percent or less of the median income, or less than $1,691 per month. An additional 12 percent of seekers and 17 percent of providers are living on 35-50 percent of the median income, or $1,692-$2,407 per month.
Jackie Baddeley, social worker for the City of Cupertino Senior Center, said that she refers two out of three clients who have housing problems to Project Match.
“I encourage people [to use this service; it has] good potential for many people’s problems with housing.”
Last year, Project Match provided over 9,000 hours of in-home assistance including meals, house cleaning, shopping, laundry, companionship, yard work and transportation. “Without this support, our providers who need in-home services would be at risk of institutionalization,” Schaller said.
For further information about the program, call 408-287-7121.
