Elderly urged to take in jobless

All care home staff will be checked against the register

The retired and young unemployed people could be encouraged to live together as part of a government proposal to help tackle the housing problem.

If the plan is adopted jobseekers could move in with older people who have a spare room in return for some help around the house and some company.

Health Minister Steve Ladyman said the idea could help young people find work and boost life quality for the elderly.

It would form part of a Green Paper focusing on older people.

Voluntary role

Mr Ladyman told the Independent newspaper: "In return for subsidised rent, young single jobseekers in London and the south east could be invited to live with an older person, do a bit of shopping and agree to spend a bit of time during the week, chatting to them, involving them in their lives.

"You do something about the housing problem and the fact that young people need a bit of help to get their first job; and you have got somebody bringing a little bit of quality into an older person's life."

A Department of Health spokesman told BBC News Online the idea was being floated by the minister so it could debated ahead of the publication of a Green Paper that will look at tackling the breakdown of traditional family support for elderly relatives.

Home share schemes are already being put into place by voluntary organisations but could be put on a national footing, possibly with state funding.

Fly the nest

"Maybe we need to do more the help the voluntary sector to organise it, more to advertise it, maybe there are things we could do - maybe subsidise the administration of it or use grants to get home share started," Mr Ladyman said.

He added: "There is a feeling that adults can look after themselves. For most adults that is true but a lot of adults in the care system cannot look after themselves.

"In the old days all the family would have been in the same location. We would have seen ourselves having responsibilities towards each other which we no longer see ourselves as having.

"We all fly the nest without a second's thought about what will happen when the family gets old."