"I can't give you the money right now," Manning said to his landlord. "But I'll tell you what I will do: I'll give you back your place."

Manning packed up his belongings into his car and headed to the welfare office. From there it was on to a homeless shelter in Menlo Park, where, Manning says, "they just try to keep you from sleeping on the streets." That was a little over two years ago.

Now Manning is one of four seniors living in a group house on S. Wolfe Road in Sunnyvale, one of the eight homes operated by the nonprofit agency Project Match. Started in Santa Clara County and incorporated in 1977, Project Match provides affordable housing for low-income seniors in a group home setting, as well as case management services.

The organization began as a program that paired senior homeowners who were asset-rich but cash-poor with those looking for affordable rental housing. The homeowner would rent out a spare bedroom or two, bringing in the few extra hundred dollars a month needed to cover property taxes, house insurance and upkeep. The effects of the tech boom on housing rates, however, put an end to that program in December 2001.

"People who were renting out rooms wanted more for rent, and the people who were looking for rooms hadn't seen that much of an increase in income," says Bob Campbell, executive director of Project Match. "So we went from people asking $300 a month for rent to people asking $650 a month for rent. It became pretty impossible to fulfill the expectations of either party in that way."

Today Project Match focuses exclusively on its Senior Group Residences Program, which began in 1985.

"In the '80s there was recognition of a large incidence of depression and suicide among senior populations, and one of the causes identified was the isolation that resulted from living alone," Campbell says. "So we thought, 'Since we know two people who are seniors can share a home, wouldn't it be interesting to open a house and have a group of seniors share that space? Maybe that would help to deal with some of those issues.' Since that time the group home program has become not only a way to prevent people from experiencing isolation and depression but it's also become a viable alternative of affordable housing for seniors."

Project Match, the first in the nation to explore "home sharing" as a housing strategy for seniors with low incomes, generally acquires its houses through referrals from county or city governments. The agency negotiates for the purchase or lease of a house on a government-owned property, or less frequently, leases a house from an individual homeowner.

The agency assesses the houses based on several criteria, including proximity to public transportation, senior centers, medical care facilities and grocery stores and the quality of the neighborhood in which the house is located.

"An important part of our program is that our seniors become a part of the neighborhood," says Campbell. "They talk to the neighbors, they talk to the mail person, they get to know the lay of the land and people get to know them."

In the process of acquiring a new residence, the agency solicits funds from a variety of sources, including community development block grants from the city's redevelopment agency, as well as foundations, companies and individual donors. The funds not only cover the renovation of the house to accommodate four to six seniors but also the operation costs and part of the lease. Project Match has also arranged subsidies through the Housing Authority of Santa Clara County that ensure the seniors do not pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

For Maridee Getz, who lives with Manning in the house on S. Wolfe Road, that guarantee is a lifesaver. Five and a half years ago she was paying an "outrageously high" rent for a room, $700 a month. She only stayed a few months before finding a house through Project Match.

Which didn't mean she didn't have her reservations about moving into a house full of complete strangers.

"I knew there'd be a lot of adjustments," she says. "But it worked out. You just have to be flexible and make sure you communicate with each other."

Her housemate Ruby Nipper agrees. "Everybody has their ups and downs, good days, bad days. No two people are alike; they don't look at things the same way. Everybody has an opinion and a right to their own opinion. You just talk and work things out."

Manning, like Getz, wasn't sure what to expect of the group house situation. "Me being the only Afro-American here, I had to sort of soft-shoe to see where they were coming from—you know, see what they like and what I like."

The challenges presented by the group home situation are complex, Campbell concedes. It can be difficult to learn to share a home after years of independence. To address that issue, the agency provides a caseworker to not only serve as a liaison between the home and the community and assist a resident in settling into their new home but to mediate any conflicts that may arise between housemates that they can't resolve themselves.

Generally, however, the group house situation creates a family-like community relatively free of conflict, with the residents sharing resources as well as chores.

"If I'm going to the store and someone needs something, I'll be sure to pick it up," Getz says. "I would do anything for them."

Many times housemates are the only family the program's seniors have. Campbell estimates that 40 percent of the agency's seniors list Project Match staff or clients as their emergency contacts.

"For some of the people, we're it," he says. "The people who live in their house become their family."

This can be especially important as the seniors age and require more care in their day-to-day life. Because Project Match does not provide assisted living services and the transition to another facility can take up to a year, a client's housemates are often their main support system as the senior faces their increasingly limited abilities and an imminent change in their housing.

"There's a lot of sensitivity around becoming less able," says Campbell. "People in the house are very sensitive to that in their own life, so if one of their housemates begins to have that experience, it becomes a community response rather than the individual being alone and having to manage that themselves."

Project Match, like other nonprofit agencies, is struggling in the current economy. With the elimination of their roommate matching program and the associated funding went seven staff members. The three remaining employees relocated in June of last year from the Burbank area of San Jose to a smaller, less expensive space in Milpitas.

"Foundations are delaying some of their grant cycles; individual donors are donating less or not donating because of concerns about their own money. And the same is true with corporate contributors," says Campbell. "It's become a little more challenging."

However, Campbell is optimistic about the future of the organization as he enthusiastically describes the agency's newest project, a home in Los Gatos, whose financing should be concluded this summer.

As for the residents, most have no plans to move on from Project Match. At the house on S. Wolfe Road, as Getz and Nipper have their first cup of coffee and cigarette of the day on their patio, they talk about what to grow in their backyard garden once the warm weather of spring is here for good. Last year they planted broccoli and carrots; this year they'll give flowers a try.

"Once people get here," Manning says, "they stay."

For more information about Project Match, call 408.416.0271.