Living together, learning from each other
Many senior citizens in German cities are living in large flats on their own, while young people struggle to find housing. A project in Berlin brings those two groups together.
Klaus Lüber,
13.04.2026 
Beate Meißner and Cornelia Stauß are sharing a flat in Berlin. This is quite common in German cities, where sharing a flat is a popular choice. The unusual aspect here is the large age gap: Beate is 21, and Cornelia is 70 years old.
The two women met through the Berlin-based organisation Sonay soziales Leben that brings older people who are living in flats that are really too big for them together with students and trainees who are urgently looking for affordable housing. Over one quarter (27 percent) of people over 65 who are living on their own across Germany, live in homes that are at least 100 square metres big, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
This is why Sonay started its intergenerational living project in 2024. The project has a three-year term and is supported, among others, by the Berlin Senate. There is plenty of demand: more than 400 young people have already registered on the platform.
The matching process
Beate Meißner is currently training as a physio therapist and she recently moved to Berlin from Austria. Cornelia Stauß has lived in the city since 1979 and had been looking for a lodger. The first step was for both of them to fill in a questionnaire. Sonay carefully selects people that are a good match. A student who likes to study in a quiet environment might, for example, have trouble living with an older person who is hard of hearing and likes to turn up the volume of their TV. Or the other way round: a young person who enjoys inviting friends would not be a good match for an older person who is sensitive to noise.
Their responses to the questionnaire showed that Beate Meißner and Cornelia Stauß are a great match. The next step was for them to meet in person and to talk about what they find important and address any concerns. No pets, no mould, no dirty dishes left in the kitchen were some of the things that Cornelia asked for. Beate, meanwhile, was concerned that she might be expected to perform care duties. After their meeting it was clear that there was nothing to worry about.
Ready for a new phase in life
Cornelia reports that she knew from the start that things would work out well with Beate. The young woman, too, had a positive impression right away, and this has proved more than accurate: “It is funnier than I expected, there is a lot of laughter and we have more in common than I initially thought.” Beate appreciates the older woman’s wealth of experience, while Cornelia is happy to “witness a phase in life in which so many interesting things happen”.
