In the years since it launched as a pilot project in Toronto in 2018, Canada HomeShare has expanded to Vancouver, Peel Region and Kingston, with more Ontario locations in the works.
Friend rentals and robots: How businesses are creating solutions for the loneliness epidemic
Companionship and cuddles are on sale as the loneliness economy takes off amidst a spike in the rate of isolation The phrase ‘the loneliness epidemic’ went viral long before lockdowns isolated us even further (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)
In the fall of 2019 a time that’s beginning to acquire the sunlit aura that earlier generations ascribed to the spring months before the guns of August opened the First World War in 1914 British economist Noreena Hertz went out for the day in Manhattan with her new “friend” Brittany. It was arranged through a company called RentAFriend, which now offers 620,000 platonic friends worldwide at varying rates Brittany, a 23-year-old Ivy League grad, was priced at US$40 an hour. The two women visited clothing shops and bookstores, chatting about #MeToo, the recently deceased Ruth Bader Ginsburg (a hero to the young American) and Brittany’s other clie
Posted: Dec 24, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 24, 2020
Helena Bowkun says the Toronto Seniors Helpline has helped her get through so many mornings where I d wake up and I d think, I can t do this. I can t do another day of COVID. (Mark Bochsler/CBC News)