This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alison Donnally, the founder and CEO of JoeyCo. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Prior to starting JoeyCo, I worked in strategy and business development within healthcare. That started me down a path of ideating better solutions for elderly patients. But personal tragedies within my own family are what really confirmed for me that a business like JoeyCo was needed.
Many older people want to retain their independence. I’ve had a lot of family history with this pattern of aging independently, living alone, and everything working out fine, until suddenly it doesn’t.
I’ve seen firsthand the safety of that situation changing very quickly. So, I started JoeyCo in 2024 and created a new category of business, one that blends housing and healthcare.
Three of my family members experienced mental and physical health declines while living alone
My husband’s grandmother was isolated in a nursing home during COVID. Before this, she was social and deeply engaged in her community and civic life. Her mental and physical health declined rapidly while living alone. She felt isolated and lonely. This all really changed her health trajectory. She experienced several falls and didn’t seem to have enough help.
Then there was my uncle, a lifelong trucker. His dream of owning a rural plot of land in Tennessee eventually turned dangerous when he was found disoriented, driving down the wrong side of the road.
Living that rural dream made it harder for our family to understand how his progression with what turned out to be dementia was really evolving. After that, my cousins moved him closer to where they were living in upstate New York, where he received memory care until he passed.
Finally, my aunt, who once happily lived alone in a retirement community, fell in her shower, and there was no one there to help her for several hours.
With all these elderly family members living alone and independently, their safety became an issue, and not a good situation for them.
JoeyCo emerged as an answer to a question
We wondered how we could keep older people independent and in their own homes as long as possible.
Our solution is to help connect students, whom we call joeys, with older adults (hosts), creating a symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit. Students find affordable housing and employment that fit their college schedules, while older adults get the support they need to live their best years at home.
This increases what I call their ‘joyspan,’ their ability to live vibrant and happy lives. However, housing regulations have been one of the biggest challenges we’ve had to help our hosts navigate.
Launching this business took a lot of research, legal assistance, and AI
The hosts’ role blends landlord and employer into one, and so, understanding how to do this safely matters.
I spent a long time initially trying to find the expert on this intersection between housing and employment, but after much research into how we could make the business work, we became the experts.
We work closely with a law firm, so everything we do is attorney-reviewed. We also work strategically with AI, helping us reduce our costs by creating templates for different regions, showing hosts what the regulations are in their area that they should be aware of.
We don’t offer legal advice, and we are not insurance agents. However, we can point you in the right direction on all these fronts.
We are not profitable yet, but we will be
We’re funding and financing the business unprofitably right now, but once we get a bit bigger, we will be able to finance our operations and turn a profit.
We are a small but growing team of seven. We’re creating rental income for the host, enabling the household to get affordable help, making sure the student gets an affordable home, and running the business.
I earn a salary, but it’s not comparable to what I’ve earned in the past. I take a salary mostly to afford childcare, so I can focus on the business and bring my best self to running it.
I want to support every vulnerable older person wanting to live independently, but our services aren’t for everyone. For example, we might not be the right fit for cases where the host has severe dementia. So, as much as we care and want to support that person, the depth and complexity of that person have to be balanced with real care and a real safety infrastructure.
My advice to others wanting to start a unique business is to figure out if there’s a demand
Ask yourself, would others want this business? The first step I took was figuring out if there was a proof of concept.
I made a Craigslist listing for my parents’ house to see if someone would want to live in their extra bedroom. I got so many bites. I had to tell everyone, no, this isn’t a real opportunity yet, but I appreciate your interest because you are validating this business idea I have.
It’s really challenging to be an American right now. There’s the cost of living, the housing crisis, and the isolation we all experience because we’re all looking at screens and disconnected from life a bit.
With this business, we’ve seen hosts and joeys cultivate true friendships that dive into their humanness and the complexities of our world so seamlessly across generations.
