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GREENSBORO — For two years, André Young has found shelter where he could, sometimes under bridges, most recently in an emergency homeless shelter at the Hive.

But next week, he will join a small group renting a house, the first effort of a new nonprofit promoting cooperative housing to help the homeless.

Young, along with his fiance, Michele Marsh, and two other men who did not wish to be identified, will share the first rental house no later than next week.

The lease will begin Wednesday for the three-bedroom house just down the road from the Hive on Grove Street.

The Hive, a cooperative community center in Glenwood, was among several sites in Greensboro to open an emergency homeless shelter this winter and is where the men met.

It made sense to continue that concept of building community and sharing resources, said Liz Seymour, a Hive organizer who recently helped create the nonprofit Greensboro Cooperative Housing Association.

A three-bedroom house renting for $600, for example, becomes $200 per person when shared. Add another $50 per person for utilities, Seymour said, “and that makes the unaffordable affordable.”

The new association has been scouring the Glenwood neighborhood, looking for rental properties and landlords willing to work with them.

The group, with the help of an anonymous $5,690 donation, will pay for utility deposits and sign the leases so landlords have one place to go with any issues, she said.

Many people who are homeless may have poor rental histories, making it difficult for them to rent again, she said.

The donation that led to the rental opportunity for Young left him nearly speechless.

“I don’t even know the words to describe it,” said Young, 48. “That shows there are people who care.”

The association has only this one house lined up so far.

“But we’re talking like crazy to landlords,” Seymour said. “Any time we see a ‘for rent’ sign, we react very quickly.”

The Hive sheltered a dozen men this winter as part of a community effort to help the homeless. Most of the shelters plan to close after Tuesday.

Jerome Lewis, 52, who also stayed at the Hive, doesn’t have housing lined up.

But he has been trying to work out a deal with landlords to trade his construction experience for reduced rent or the opportunity to rent. He and three other men from the shelter plan to get a place together.

“Everything looks positive,” he said Monday. “We have some irons in the fire, but nothing’s concrete.”

Lewis said he never would have considered living with a group of people until he stayed at the Hive. He learned how to get along better with people, he said.

“We’re not calling it group housing,” he said. “We’re just calling it a bunch of guys that are not related living together.”

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com