What’s that sound? It’s the mind-rattling, uvula-shaking snore of your boarder in the room next to you, and it sounds a little like half of this month’s mortgage payment. The New York Times reports that, as the housing crisis continues to grow, so does the number of homeowners looking to renter-screening agencies in search of a boarder to help pay the bills. Just today in the Twin Cities there were 24 "rooms for rent" added to Craiglist’s growing inventory of available rentals. The majority of them are in single-family homes.

Remember 10 years ago when trying to rent a house in the Twin Cities was on par with trying to adopt a child from Burma? Only the ones with the most home-worthy applications got through the first gate. But now that homes sales are plummeting as prices continue to decline and equity gets eaten away, many homeowners are opting to rent their homes outright instead of selling them at rock-bottom prices. And in some cases, homeowners who haven’t traditionally rented rooms in their single-family homes are finding renting a room to a stranger is the only option to staying out from under water.

Kirby Dunn, executive director of HomeShare Vermont, told the New York Times that "Historically,the people who come to us have been looking for someone to provide services in the home. But now, money is the bigger issue for folks. There’s definitely an increase in people looking for a revenue stream.”

With boarding–or "co-habitation," since water boarding has given "boarding" a bad name–on the rise, perhaps one industry might end out on top: If the Golden Girls taught us anything, it’s that a slice of cheesecake cures all roommate ills.