Alice has lived in her east Melbourne home for the past 60 years but last month, just before her 100th birthday, her first ever roommate moved in, 28-year-old Sean.

"I made my mind up when I was about 18 I wasn't going to get married. I wasn't short of boyfriends but I just said no," Alice said.

"I've been alone practically all my life. I've had friends for ages but unfortunately they were younger than me and they've all gone."

Alice gets regular help from the local council, but they gradually realised she needed more.

"I'd been thinking for quite a while, seeing how I live on my own, perhaps I could find somebody who could come here," she said.

"Three days a week a lady comes in to shower me and make sure I'm dressed properly and that.

"Eventually they introduced me to Sean and we seemed to get on all right. I said, 'Yes, he can stay'."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 11 minutes 10 seconds 11 m Odd couple: 100yo Alice and 28yo Sean find housemate happiness ( Tierney Bonini )

The unlikely couple were set up through Homeshare, a scheme that connects young people in need of affordable housing with lonely, elderly people who want to stay living at home and need assistance.

Groups like UnitingCare Life Assist, Care Connect and the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, then help match the roommates according to their interests, and they have to undergo police and reference checks and do a 90-minute interview.

For Sean, who is originally from China, moving in with Alice has helped him sidestep Melbourne's expensive rental market.

"It's very good for a student and as a student it's also conducive for me to improve my English skills because I can communicate with Alice on a daily basis," he said.

In return for free rent, Sean spends 10 hours a week helping Alice around the house.

"I clean up the possum poos, I do the bin run on a weekly basis, when she runs out of tablets I fetch the tablets from the pharmacy for her, sometimes she may ask me for a bottle of milk or a loaf of the bread or the newspaper," he said.

Alice, 100, has lived alone for most of her life. ( ABC: Tierney Bonini )

Sean says Alice reminds him a lot of his own grandmother.

"She is always teaching me something and tell me straight away, so like, sometimes I'll speak in a loud voice and she'll tell me, 'You're not expected to speak so loud'," he said.

"Sometimes I have improper gestures or something, she will correct me straight away."

When it comes to Sean's cooking, Alice is fussy.

"The only cooking that I cook for Alice is the pumpkin soup. That's the one dish that never fails. She likes my pumpkin soup very much," he said.

"Everybody does," Alice chimes in.

"Sometimes I do stir fry or porridge. She doesn't like the taste of that but pumpkin soup; that's a double yes," Sean said.

Sean says Alice has passed on her longevity secrets.

"She said one thing is to chew your things properly. She used a big word that time. She used the word masticating," he said.

"And the other way is to mind your own business. Out of sight, out of mind."

Alice says having Sean as a roommate has allowed her to maintain some independence.

"Sean minds his own business and I get on with mine and there we are," she said.

Maria and Sofie

Maria and Sofie say they enjoy each others' company. ( ABC: Tierney Bonini )

Italian migrant Maria is 83, suffers from Alzheimer's and after her husband died, she hated being home alone because she was afraid of the dark.

"I can't stay here all the time like this, especially the night time, I go to bed here and [it] starts like this," she says, gesturing to show her heart beating quickly.

Maria's daughter, Rosa, looked into the Homeshare program and just one month after Maria's husband passed away, 35-year-old Sofie moved in.

"I didn't necessarily want someone to do cleaning or anything like that, I just wanted the company for Mother," Rosa said.

"That's why Sofie is good to have here."

Before Sofie moved in, she had been commuting three hours a day to her job in the city, because she could not afford rent closer in.

"Maria is very nice and whenever I get back home from the office I see her with a smiling face and she comes to greet me, hug me and that is very amazing to have someone here who is really caring for you," she said.

"There are downsides to it, but those are minor. If you know that you are living with someone who is old ... you shouldn't expect a lot. Not hearing what you are saying is normal. You have to repeat yourself. You end up listening to stories over and over again."

Maria, 85, has Alzheimer's and does not like being home alone. ( ABC: Tierney Bonini )

Sofie and Maria have fitted into a happy routine together.

"That shows how perfect our match is, she loves cooking and I don't love it that much," Sofie said.

"So she ends up cooking and I end up cleaning after the cooking which is a lot of work cause some serious cooking happens."

It is an arrangement that also suits Maria.

"She makes company to me, I make company to her. She eats everything and I like to help her, cook something nice, I know the things she likes better, and I cook more," she said.

Rosa is relieved to see her mother happy.

"She spoils her. She knows that Sofie likes something she cooks. Mum has been a great cook and that's what gives her pleasure," she said.

"People often say, 'Why didn't she come and live with you?' But we live further away, where she's been here for quite a few years, all her brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews are around her. She does different programs, if we take her away from that, you know, she'll have no-one.

"At least here she has lots of people to drop in, so having Sofie here, just at night, is all we really want; just that company for her. She's very fortunate and we are very fortunate."