Apartments for seniors now accepting young tenants

An apartment building specially designed for the elderly in Jilin city, Jilin province, is now open to young tenants.

For a monthly rent of only 300 yuan ($42), individuals can live in a room with a single bed and private bathroom, with three meals a day included, Jiupai News in Hubei province reported on Wednesday.

Zhou Weihong, director of the building known as the Xiyangfu Elderly Apartments, announced in a video posted on social media that the apartments are now open to individuals under age 35 who possess an associate's degree at minimum. They also are not allowed to smoke or drink alcohol.

Moreover, the applicants should have stable employment and not already be housed locally, and they should be responsible people who are compassionate about helping others. They are also expected to volunteer 20 hours a month to care for the elderly residents in the building.

On Wednesday, a staff member at the apartments explained that the rooms for young and senior residents are on different floors. Currently, only one young person is living in the building.

Not all of the more than 80 elderly tenants require assistance, as the facility has dedicated workers to take care of them. The staff member stated that young volunteers can simply visit the seniors to chat with them or do activities such as playing chess or going out with them for some fresh air.

The 300 yuan rent is quite attractive, considering the average monthly rent for a room with a single bed and private bathroom in the area is about 1,000 yuan, according to Jiupai News.

The opening of nursing homes to young people is not limited to Jilin.

As early as 2019, the bureau of civil affairs in the Bingzhou district of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, launched a special apartment project to house "multiple generations in the same building". It welcomed young people to live in nursing homes with seniors.

To live in the building, young tenants pay a monthly management fee of 300 yuan and volunteer to spend at least 10 hours a month as companions for the elderly tenants.

In August last year, the apartment project held its third public recruitment drive for companions. The campaign received over 260 applications.

After a rigorous selection and training process that lasted nearly three months, 15 young people finally moved into the apartment building in November.

Several nursing homes in Foshan, Guangdong province, and Suzhou, Jiangsu province, also have plans to roll out favorable measures to attract young people to serve as companions for the seniors in their facilities.