Welcome! I’m Annamarie Pluhar and I’ve become a passionate advocate for shared housing. It started with my personal experience.I have chosen to live in shared housing for my entire adult life. There have been stretches where I lived with a significant other and many years of living with people who started out as strangers. More than twenty years have been in that type of shared housing.
I like cutting my housing costs, I like living with people. I like the casual, spontaneous social connection of a pick up conversation or meal. I like having help in maintaining my home. In my years of shared housing, I’ve learned a few things. I’ve lived with singles, people in transition, a single mother and her pre-school son, an elderly friend of the family, couples, people in school or internships, and foreigners in the country for work or study. Some have remained friends, others have not. I have made mistakes and made wonderful friends. There is no doubt that my life has been richer by living under a roof with people who started out as strangers.
The Spark for the Book
The book, Sharing Housing, A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates came about through a telephone conversation. A dear friend was complaining about the state of her finances. When I suggested that she could rent a room in her house, she wailed, “I don’t know how to do that.” She’d had one horrible experience and didn’t want to repeat it. I argued that she’d made a mistake in letting that one person move in and that she didn’t have to repeat the mistake. She asked if I would coach her. I agreed. After I got off the phone I realized that had a process that I could teach to others and decided to write the book.
My background
I come to this work after years in the corporate world, first as a management consultant and later as an instructional designer. As a consultant, I trained employees to work in self-managing work teams, honing my expertise in group dynamics and interpersonal relationships. As an instructional designer, I’m skilled in breaking down complex subjects so that individuals can learn them easily. Years ago I earned a masters in divinity. (The Episcopal Divinity School) I received excellent supervised training in helping people—how to listen, how to encourage personal growth, and how to help people manage life. I consider promoting shared housing to be a ministry.
The nonprofit
While at a large conference on aging, I realized that this work which is a social mission, would be better served as a not for profit organization. I turned to the various people who were already advising me, and asked them to serve on the Board. We recieved our designation on September 27th, 2017. Learn more about our mission and team →“
What’s Next?
Ready to explore shared housing? Check out the book that started it all, sign up for the newsletter, or join one of our free monthly Q&A sessions. We’d love to hear your thoughts — drop us a line.
