San Diego, we have a problem. The most recent Point in Time Count of people experiencing homelessness in the county topped 10,000. Veterans and the elderly on fixed incomes are among the fastest-growing populations of unsheltered individuals. The homelessness crisis will only get worse unless action is taken now.

Experts agree that San Diego needs to build more housing that’s affordable for everyone, but now a pilot program is making an immediate impact on the homelessness crisis by pairing housemates to share expenses in existing rental vacancies.

It sounds simple because it is. Townspeople, a San Diego nonprofit organization, recently launched a collaborative initiative to move people experiencing homelessness into existing housing. With a grant from Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego and additional investments from the Grupo de trabajo regional sobre personas sin hogar y el Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, Townspeople has worked with dozens of agencies throughout the region, including the City of Vista, Pueblos del Padre Joe, PATH San Diego, Interfaith Community Services, and more to design a Match.com-like system allowing people in need to find a housemate to share a home and its costs with. And now, the initiative is ready to be scaled.

The “Shared Housing Palooza,” a 100-day campaign that kicked off on Aug. 1, aims to match 75 individuals with compatible housemates, helping them secure permanent, shared housing by Nov. 8. This initiative is modeled after a successful effort in Los Angeles that transitioned an estimated 800 people from the streets into housing.

At the event, nearly 100 people attended and the shared housing “StarRez” program now has 114 people enrolled in its database. The number of housemate groups rose to 11. Twenty-seven social service agencies were represented from across the County.

 “We need to encourage shared housing as an option as we work to end homelessness,” Melissa Peterman, Executive Director of Townspeople, said. “When done thoughtfully, shared housing not only ends a person’s homelessness but also fosters community and support.”

Everyone knows roommate situations can go sideways, so the shared housing collaborative uses advanced technology to ensure suitable pairings. The technology is used by major universities for roommate matchmaking – and has proven successful right here in San Diego in the initiative’s initial phase. The organization is also able to pair people who already know one another.

 Take Dana Stapleton and Adam Medrano who have been sharing an apartment in East County for five months thanks to the Townspeople’s shared housing initiative. The two knew each other while they were both experiencing homelessness and stayed in touch as they moved to sober living facilities. Once they were eligible for independent living, they decided to pool resources and rent a sunny two-bedroom place. “It makes a big difference to have a place to call our own,” says Stapleton. Medrano adds, “We give each other a boost up.”