A house-sharing twist: The Room Xchange let you ‘pay’ rent with housework

Millions of Aussie homes hold the key to solving Australia’s housing crisis, if they open their doors to a new twist on classic living.

The solution to Australia’s deepening housing crisis lies in millions of homes around the country, if we can open our doors to new ways of classic shared living arrangements.

And one Melbourne house-sharing platform may hold the key.

The Room Xchange is Australia’s first verified house-sharing platform that connects busy homeowners with a spare bedroom to renters in need of an affordable place to call home.

The solution to the housing crisis lies in more than 10 million Australian homes. Picture: Aaron Francis/NCA NewsWire

But unlike other platforms, The Room Xchange offers a unique payment model whereby renters can ‘pay rent’ by picking up additional household jobs – like gardening, cleaning, walking the dog, or “short bursts” of babysitting.

“It’s about utilising the 13.5 million unused bedrooms in 10 million homes across Australia,” The Room Xchange founder and chief executive officer Ludwina Dautovic said.

“For the government to fix the housing and rental crisis we’re in right now, it’s four or five years away just to build the housing that’s needed now. By that point, the problem will have doubled in size.

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But Ms Dautovic believes The Room Xchange can start fixing the rental crisis now – or, at the very least, put a “good dent” in it.

“This is existing housing stock that doesn’t have to be built.”

For the last five years, Ms Dautovic has been growing the business to host 5000 prospective “households” and “housemates” – aged between 25 and 70 – from around Australia searching for their ideal living match.

Ludwina Dautovic’s platform offers a fresh twist on the classic house sharing model.

Each user is verified using built-in Digital iD technology by Australia Post that creates a “safe sharing community”, eliminates fake profiles, and “potentially problematic people”.

A user’s profile shares details about their personality and, if they are offering, their household. They can provide as much or as little information as they want about themselves, their lifestyle – whether they smoke, like or have pets, even their dietary requirements – their living priorities, and practical needs.

“Our profiles make it easy to be matched based on personality, values, and lifestyle so you feel like you’re coming home to a friend,” Ms Dautovic said.

This is exactly what Sydney academic Angela Webster found when she was matched with dance teacher Sherylanne at the end of 2020.

Angela Webster and her son Felix opened their Sydney home through the pandemic Picture: Nikki Short

Ms Webster, a “professional solo parent” after being widowed with her then-5-year-old son Felix in 2016, had hosted international university students for months at a time in the small granny flat in the backyard of her home in Sydney’s inner west.

But the “constant change” of short-term stays was increasingly “unsettling” for the family and, Ms Webster realised, she was becoming increasingly time-poor and in need of extra help.

“I was looking around for support,” she said. “But I did not want living with me and my son to be someone’s job. I didn’t want to employ someone. I wanted it to be a mutual benefit. I wanted to share my home.”

At the same time, Sherylanne needed a roof over her head. The pandemic had frozen her plans to build a dance school, and her budget – like many others’ – was very tight. Rent needed to be cheap.

“I didn’t necessarily need the rent, so Rent Offset was an amazing difference – she could help me and I could help her,” Ms Webster said.

The women arranged ‘offset’ rent in exchange for help around the home. Picture: Nikki Short

Jobs included cleaning, walking the dog, after-school care, and feeding the chickens.

This quid pro quo is offered by The Room Xchange for households to negotiate a reduced rental rate – in part or complete – if a prospective housemate agrees to do additional “short bursts of help” around the home.

“You might say to a potential housemate, we’re looking for someone to pick up our kids for an hour after school, and you can pay half the rent,” Ms Dautovic explained.

Ms Webster described it as a chance for the women to “align resources”.

“People’s time can be their resource. And people who have no time, like me, their space can be their resource,” she said.

“I know naysayers will say it’s exploitative or coercive to get someone to do housework for free, but it’s not.

“It’s just a different monetary contribution, it’s reimagining what we’ve lost from communities and family connections when we don’t live in big family groups anymore.

“It’s not exploitative, it’s a housemate, someone living with you and contributing to the home.”

Sherylanne lived with the Websters for 18 months before moving to Portugal. Picture: Nikki Short

Ms Dautovic said The Room Xchange can facilitate negotiations and draft rental agreements to avoid exploitation on either side.

In the end, Sherylanne lived and helped the Websters for 18 months before moving to Portugal, leaving Ms Webster looking for the right housemate, again.

Ms Dautovic hopes The Room Xchange can become a “third option” for real estate agents who are having to turn away dozens of prospective tenants at inspections each week.

She also hopes to receive government support, and is in talks with the Victorian government to expand The Room Xchange into regional areas, where houses are in short supply after a mass pandemic tree change, and increases in holiday rental purchases.

NSW is also in her sights.

Ms Webster is looking for someone else to move into the granny flat for reduced rent. Picture: Nikki Short

“My goal is for the government to fund this. There would be no reason for them not to take full advantage of industry knowledge and the systems we’ve invested in,” she said

“The Room Xchange is an instant solution to so many problems: housing affordability, accessibility, rising living costs, stalled wage growth, loneliness – especially for the elderly – returning international students.

“The impact is huge. Even if we just got 1 per cent of the spare bedrooms, that’s a pretty significant dent put in the rental crisis.”

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