ADDISON RESIDENT JAN Louise Ball and her husband, John, are hoping to help meet local housing needs and boost community by developing a home-sharing arrangement with their properties in Addison and Bristol. They’re currently looking to gauge local interest in the idea.  
Independent photo/Marin Howell

ADDISON — Addison residents Jan Louise and John Ball have often opened their door to those in need of a place to stay.

They’ve welcomed several individuals into their home on Mountain Road over the years, whether it be someone from out of state seeking housing in Vermont or a friend needing to get out of their current living situation.

“My mom was like that, folks would come by on Sunday morning, and she would lovingly start cooking more food. She was also the village ‘animal rescuer,’” Jan Louise said during a recent interview. “I believe when you grow up with those values it’s just something that you always live.”

Now, the pair is looking to share their home with fellow community members on a larger scale. They’re currently gauging interest in creating a co-op housing or homesharing arrangement, starting with their home in Addison and a bungalow in Bristol the couple has been renting out for several years.

They see the homesharing model as an opportunity to build community and help meet local housing needs.

“At this moment, with the housing situation as it is, there are so many people that cannot find a nest that they can afford,” Jan Louise said. “The home share, co-op, idea has really snowballed for me in my heart because something has to be done for the homeless and the hungry.”

Homes are getting more expensive: the median sales price of primary homes was up 5% in 2023 to $325,000, and the price of new homes jumped by 11% to $616,500, according to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency. Costs to rent have also been going up.

A dearth of affordable housing has prompted more and more people around the country to embrace the homesharing model in recent years. In many cases, older Americans are renting out vacant rooms in their homes to younger housemates.

Through homesharing, two or more housemates share a common space, and often, responsibilities around the house. Services like HomeShare Vermont have become a popular means for matching prospective tenants with hosts.

Co-op housing centers around a similar idea, in which individuals collectively own and help run the property.

Jan Louise Ball said the pair lived in a similar type of community in southwestern New Mexico around 36 years ago. Members of the community lived in their own spaces with shared common areas like a dining hall.

“It was pretty magical,” she said. “In community living, working with food, playing music together, and sharing childcare. We had a Montessori school for our children. It was a very rich experience, that most folks are missing out on”

Jan Louise has long dreamed of creating a home sharing arrangement in the Green Mountain State.

She and John have lived at their home in Addison for more than three decades. Nestled at the base of Snake Mountain, the four-acre property includes a flourishing garden and a yurt that former housemates have stayed in.

Around seven years ago, Jan Louise stumbled upon a bungalow coming on the market in Bristol, a town the couple had looked to move to prior to finding their home in Addison. They lived in the Bristol house for a few years during the pandemic and have rented it out to several tenants.

Jan Louise said when the latest tenant vacated the space it prompted the pair to see if they could make a go of home sharing.

The hope is to use the couple’s houses in Bristol and Addison as the base homes of the homesharing arrangement. Jan Louise said that those interested in being a part of the idea would help shape it, with the possibility for each home to be a space for individuals with similar interests.

Inhabitants would all buy into the co-op with everyone paying the same monthly rent.

“It would be a placement kind of thing also in the respect that if someone lived in Burlington for years and all of a sudden their son graduated, they could find a place in Middlebury that would fit them,” Jan Louise said.

She noted her longtime dream for the Addison property has been to co-create a “seven sisters healing sanctuary” with other local women. That dream is continuing to evolve, with more information to come for those interested in being a part of the community.

Jan Louise noted that nothing is set in stone and that ultimately prospective housemates would work together to orchestrate the arrangement.

“I just keep thinking and feeling, if we can just get these two homes going (in Bristol and Addison), then the seed will be planted, and others will be inspired to grow into it,” she said.

If put in motion, Jan Louise sees the homesharing model as an opportunity to help meet local housing needs and make use of space available in area homes.

“It could serve so many people,” she said. “I have friends of all ages who are struggling to just have a home.”

She feels the arrangement could also help boost community at a time when loneliness is on the rise throughout the country.

“Not just having your own space (in a house) but working together and making sure that everybody is getting what they need, rather than ‘Oh you live in that room, and I live in this room,’ it becomes a community,” Jan Louise said. “We are designed for tribal living, but we put ourselves in separate dwellings and give up that experience on a day to day basis.”

Currently, the couple is looking to share the idea with others in the community and connect with anyone interested in pursuing it. Jan Louise said community members of all ages and interests are welcome to be a part of the effort.

“Mostly that’s what we need at this point, is people who would get excited about it and step forward and go ‘Wow, I really want to be a part of helping you do that,’” she said.

The Balls can be reached at [email protected] or 802-759-2058.