Advice on Finding Another Single Mom or Family To Share Housing
I am a single mom of an almost-5 year old. We live in great situation: an in-law unit of another young family in North Oakland. Their housing needs have changed, and my son and I need a new place to live that is near public transit (I no longer drive). We currently rent a 1+ bedroom (his isn't much larger than his twin size bed) and it has been great to have just that little bit of extra space. Ideally we'd find another 2 bedroom, but even the prices for a 1 bedroom are outrageous. I'm on a fixed income so we'll likely need to find housemates and secure a larger apartment/house to share. I need suggestions on finding either another single mom or a family to live with. How do I go about it? I've posted on Craigslist and NextDoor. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Parent Replies
Hi there,
i am also a single mom w a 6 year old and we have been co housing in the Bay Area for two years in two different houses. I highly recommend it, it makes single parenting so much better/easier (with the right room mates)! Gratefully, with the support of family, I have been able to lease the house and then find room mates. However, it took me two months of shouldering the rent on my own in both houses before I found people that felt right and I have had to ask two different room mates to move out for various reasons. I posted and reposted over and over on CL, and in several different pages on FB (Bay Area conscious housing and a few other similar). Basically I just recommend being very persistent! And if you can, spend a weekend at your new potential home before moving in and make sure there is very clear paperwork citing agreements even if you're sure that you won't need it. You never know, some things don't come out of the woodwork until you live together for a while. Good luck and feel free to contact me if I can answer any more questions.
I understand where you're coming from... Craigslist and NextDoor can be really hit or miss. We have an almost 7 year old and an almost 3 year old, we are not looking for roommates right now (we were EXTREMELY lucky and ended up in an affordable and very tiny apartment in Berkeley last year) but may try house sharing again in the future when we are ready to find a bigger place. I would suggest scanning the posted housing ads daily. A few years back my family did have success in connecting with another family to house-share with through Craigslist.
Another suggestion I have is to try this site: http://roommateswithkids.com/
You didn't mention if you are interested in co-op living / co-housing, but I thought I would mention it as a possibility (it's only a step beyond shared housing in some ways and there are MANY kinds oc co-ops out there, from ones that share nearly all expenses to ones that share only a meal or two per month and otherwise have a lot of privacy!). There are a number of communities in the Bay, including in Oakland. Check this site out as a starting place:
http://www.bayareaca.org/housing
Here is one link from that site I think you might want to try searching and posting on, a google group list for folks looking for roommates/co-housing/etc: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#%21forum/looking-for-housing
I'm sure there must be more resources, but these are some I'm aware of. Try going to the government Housing Board in the communities you are interested in. Hopefully they can give some more ideas. Good luck.