Cohousing (in spite of my spell checker, there is no hyphen) is a concept that took root in Denmark quite some time ago, and has only more recently become popular in the US. Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhoods. These neighborhoods can be in rural Kansas, an old New England mill building, or in the middle of a borough of NYC. They can be new construction or re-construction of existing properties. They can be family oriented (ie kids, playgrounds, schooling) or adult oriented ("Help, Lewie, I've fallen and I can't find my scotch!") There are over 125 such communities in the US. Actually, there are probably more, but they just don't identify with the name or enter into the statistics.
There are six defining characteristics of cohousing, per the Cohousing Association of the United States (www.cohousing.org). They are:
1. Participatory process. Future residents participate in the design of the community so that it meets their needs. Some cohousing communities are initiated or driven by a developer. In those cases, if the developer brings the future resident group into the process late in the planning, the residents will have less input into the design. A well-designed, pedestrian-oriented community without significant resident participation in the planning may be “cohousing-inspired,” but it is not a cohousing community.
2. Neighborhood design. The physical layout and orientation of the buildings (the site plan) encourage a sense of community. For example, the private residences are clustered on the site, leaving more shared open space. The dwellings typically face each other across a pedestrian street or courtyard, with cars parked on the periphery. Often, the front doorway of every home affords a view of the common house. What far outweighs any specifics, however, is the intention to create a strong sense of community, with design as one of the facilitators.
3. Common facilities. Common facilities are designed for daily use, are an integral part of the community, and are always supplemental to the private residences. The common house typically includes a common kitchen, dining area, sitting area, children's playroom and laundry, and also may contain a workshop, library, exercise room, crafts room and/or one or two guest rooms. Except on very tight urban sites, cohousing communities often have playground equipment, lawns and gardens as well. Since the buildings are clustered, larger sites may retain several or many acres of undeveloped shared open space. (And perhaps a dock and nearby moorings for us sailors.)
4. Resident management. Residents manage their own cohousing communities, and also perform much of the work required to maintain the property. They participate in the preparation of common meals, and meet regularly to solve problems and develop policies for the community.
5. Non-hierarchical structure and decision-making. Leadership roles naturally exist in cohousing communities, however no one person (or persons) has authority over others. Most groups start with one or two “burning souls.” As people join the group, each person takes on one or more roles consistent with his or her skills, abilities or interests. Most cohousing groups make all of their decisions by consensus, and, although many groups have a policy for voting if the group cannot reach consensus after a number of attempts, it is rarely or never necessary to resort to voting.
6. No shared community economy. The community is not a source of income for its members. Occasionally, a cohousing community will pay one of its residents to do a specific (usually time-limited) task, but more typically the work will be considered that member's contribution to the shared responsibilities.
There are a number of architectural firms and other organizations that can help a group interested in cohousing to pull their facility together, from site selection, to design, to organization, to construction, to "lets move in". There are also brokers that can help you find existing cohousing communities with units for sale (yes, as elders we must anticipate the inevitable turnover).
It sounds a lot like the communes of the 60's and 70's, but for adults. As we know, there are a lot of adults who are getting older and want to remain independent as long as possible. Cohousing can be a means of doing that.
My idea, discussed with friends for a decade or more and described briefly in this blog in April of 2012 ("Independent Living"), was, without my knowing it, a cohousing concept.
- Get together with a bunch of really good friends.
- Jointly buy a property with enough room for a common house and individual living units.
- Have room for our stuff like boats and cars.
- Have room for gardens, workshops, studios, to be as self-reliant as we want.
- Watch over each other's stuff and feed each other's pets when someone wants to go on a cruise to the Bahamas or live in Paris for a year.
- Support each other for as long as we can stand each other.
- Have room for visitors in the common house.
- Have room for a live-in caregiver in the common house when that is necessary.
Cohousing would not be for everyone. It is tough to come up with a common vision, acceptable financing, personalities (seeing your good friends all the time is not the same as getting together once a year in Charleston to shop, eat and drink), living standards, outside interests, understanding of shared responsibilities. And being pedestrian oriented, there could be less privacy than in traditional housing (as I look out my window at our back yard, I realize that I LIKE our back yard with its hedge that screens out the rest of the world). It's complicated. But for the right group of people, with the right design parameters, it could be, I suspect, very satisfying.
If structured properly, I think this could be a substitute for a Continuing Care Retirement Community, especially if there were a nursing home, rehab or other medical facilities nearby. I have been thinking that a CCRC would likely be part of our aging strategy. But, who knows, maybe some day we will actually pull together the Wooster's Retreat after all.
Who would have thought that I was such a visionary, a "burning soul".
Michael
