A new scheme could be exactly what is needed for young people to get started on the property ladder. According to the Lloyds Bank Foundation, elderly people living with rooms to spare are a good match for young people looking for that first area to call home. Young people are finding it increasingly difficult to find suitable housing due to high first deposits and limited homes they can afford. Being matched with an elderly person opens a window of opportunity a young person might not have had before meeting with them.

The scheme is being called the homesharing programme and is funded by the charity arm of the bank. Young people who are not able to afford housing are matched with elderly people with rooms to spare. This arrangement is proving to be quite beneficial to both parties and above everything more people are able to join the property ladder, which is most important to the overall health of the UK housing market.

There is only one stipulation for the young person moving in with the elderly person and becoming a housemate. The young person must spend ten hours with the elderly person as a companion and agree to help with tasks around the house.

The scheme has a low cost attached to it. Both the elderly person with the spare room and the new housemate must pay a fee up to £200 per month. The new tenant must also split the house bills with the elderly owner of the house.

Paul Streets, chief executive of Lloyds Bank Foundation, commented on the house sharing programme, saying: "Too often we separate generations of old and young. Homeshare brings them together in a really positive way so that the older person can retain their independence and the younger person can have somewhere affordable to live. True symbiosis.”

Streets added: "This important work sets out to prove it can work at scale and sustainably. We’re excited to be working with the Lottery and a range of delivery partners in common cause to prove it can be done in the UK."