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“Students need housing.
Older households have bedrooms.
We do the matching.”
That’s the haiku-style slogan for Nesterly, a new app that pairs students in college towns with baby boomers who have space to spare. The innovation is part social, part solution to housing crunches Millennials face in high-rent areas. Noelle Marcus and Rachel Goor, Nesterly’s creators, urban planners and recent graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will launch the app in Boston this fall. They’ll match home owners with graduate students looking for cheaper rent in exchange for doing household chores, according to CityLab.
Home owners can search for potential renters based on the kind of help they need, such as picking up groceries or doing household chores. The more time students offer, the lower their rent may be. Renters and tenants communicate and negotiate terms before committing to anything though the app, which helps them keep track of their agreements. “We're really excited about the opportunity to help the rapidly aging population in the U.S. stay in their homes, and one way is helping them access just household help like changing the lightbulb or shoveling the snow,” Marcus told CityLab, noting that students would not be required to perform service to join. “Simple tasks that students can do, but could really make a big difference for an aging household.” Background checks are available through the app.
