This sounds like the perfect solution for empty-nesters, who want their own space and the option of privacy but the availability of others nearby when they want to socialize. As an empty-nester myself, I love this idea!
16
Then there are actual "communes" still in existence, such as Sirius Community where I and my family lived during the nineties - we now live down the road. I love Pioneer Co-housing, but if one doesn't have the funds to invest, there are low-cost options..where a person can learn to garden, cook, build, craft, share lawn mowers, washing machines, tools etc - and hopefully communicate in a healthy way so all can thrive. For the communication part, I recommend Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg.
8
This sounds good but, given what's happening to people in their 50s when they lose their jobs and can't find new ones, unaffordable. Like everything else in America, if you have the money life works but if you don't forget about it.
26
We have lived in several condos with their dysfunctional associations. But a new cohousing development coming to our neighborhood appears to draw a serious, dedicated core of people who value communication, learning, family, friendship, organic gardens and cooperation. Like an ordinary condo development? Ha! The best laugh so far in 2018.
11
You're saying a different word, but describing a condominium. So what's the difference? The people living there can select who gets to live with them? A co-op then? Or is it self selecting? How is that enforced? Still sounds like a condo. How is this different? Really?
3
I have wished for many years to live in a co-housing community. However, they are incredibly difficult to start. You need to start a new co-housing community with people who have a lot of access to capital. A co-housing community is not something you can kick off with student-loan-burdened Milennials or middle-class families who all need mortgage approval. It’s also not very plausible for large cities with high property values. You need vacant buildings or open land.
14
There are already three cohousing communities in urban neighborhoods of metro Boston, and another on the way. (Not even counting the two in the exurbs.) So it is possible.
2
It would be interesting to know how the make of the communities are. I didn't see one person of color in the pictures mentioned.
16
Hmmm. I looked at the same images and didn't see colorless people. Rather, they appeared to be light-skinned.
2
How do these communities deal with religious and especially political differences? Or do they already tend to be like-minded individuals? Do they profile prospective residents from the beginning?
14
Boulder and Amherst are uber-liberal, "spiritual but not religious" and highly educated places with financially comfortable Caucasians (like most of Oregon)
5
I spent 20 years in cohousing. We asked that prospective new buyers come n get to know the existing cohousers. Your religion would be your business. We had all types of spiritual folks in the group. A few nonbelievers sprinkled in there. Check it out. Investigate.
8
Do you think this phenomena of co-housing along with people seeking tiny houses or living in mobile homes or living in their parents basements or living in the crawl space under a staircase has anything to do with the off-the-charts income disparity that is wiping out the middle and working classes in the United States? Income disparity so great that it is on par with the wage/income gaps of the Guilded Age? You can only put so many big red pretty bows around income inequality and poverty before the American people say enough.
34
Oooh! It sounds like a condominium! With a club! What a novel idea. Why did't anyone ever think of this before?
2
I am a 66 year old woman who spends a great deal of time alone. I've had long-term relationships and am in one now with someone who is a dear friend I am connected to but I want so much more in the way of human companionship. I have a group of ten dear women friends. We meet four to five times a year for week-ends and I am never so happy as when I am with this group. But I want more.
I'd love to find a group of women who have their own private space to retreat to but can spend time together in a communal area on a daily basis. Oh, I would love that. Preferably a group who loves to sing!
I want something different and I wonder if it's with a group of women somewhere outside the bounds of America. I think I want to leave America but....I don't want to be alone.
Women who are real and fun and good together....nothing better.
49
Sophia: What is it about your long-term relationship with someone dear that leaves you wanting so much more in "human" companionship? Is your friend furry and four-legged? And, why do you refer to only seeking other women for a bonded community? Matthew
3
Sounds great, but what happens to the health of an "age in place" community when everyone moves in at the same age? Eventually, incomes will drop, ability will decline, and there will not be a critical mass of doers to insure it all gets done. Then what?
My dad's Florida gated community shows signs of this now, with the aging residents less willing to pay what it takes to keep up the club, or even their roofs. Could be worse, I would think, for these smaller communities.
17
Please explain to me what makes many of these places different from the apartment co-ops and condos that have been around for generations without the housing maintenance services that are provided by the building staff.
I have several neighbors on my co-op floor whose children and grandchildren live within a five-minute distance walking.
Aria makes more sense, but, come on, group meals once a week and activities and events? Sounds like a senior community.
17
I am familiar with one co-housing project in VT called Cobb Hill Co-Housing. The clustered homes share a wood fired, high efficiency wood furnace which essentially heats all the properties. The homes are all privately owned, not rented. Many of the owners lease communal land for a variety of privately owned agricultural enterprises including an award winning cheese company, and crops that are sold to local restaurants and individuals. Each home owner is given a garden plot for their own garden. The community comes together for pot luck dinners. They share in community chores as they are able. The community reviews potential new home owners to make site they are a good fit. More importantly, it is multi generational. There are young families who are part of the mix. I can't find a down side unless you really value solitude, privacy, and doing your own thing.
26
Why the puerile challenge?
No explanation is required for you. Learn to read; the answer is self-evident.
8
They're similar. I wouldn't get too hung up on it.
6
We have a tiny cohousing thing going on in our house. My housemate and I were friends from college and decided to split a 2 family house. There's some additional legal complexity, but it's been great for 17 years now. We have 1 lawn mower too.
And when I tell my story, I find out that other people have done some other creative living arrangements too, that are non-traditional. It's expensive to live here (Boston area) and it makes sense for some situations. There's more variety out there than people realize and it can work if done right. I wish there was a bit more acceptance of it in banking and law, though.
36
Can I ask how you structured it legally?
5
We have it set up as tenants-in-common, and drew up a legal document that gives each other the right to buy the other out first if that situation arose. We co-signed the mortgage and just split the annual deduction. There was only one time the IRS got confused on this but it was handled quickly.
We have also agreed to let each other live out in the house without our heirs selling it as long as the other chooses to stay there. But we would like to put more legal protection around that in our wills and are trying to figure out how exactly that needs to be tidied up.
12
Sign me up. I first read about co-housing some 30 years ago, and have always wondered why more people don't embrace the idea. Some of the best years of my life were spent in student family housing - with families from around the world. As graduate students, we were low on money but rich with community and friendships. Our small apartments were shabby but functional and warm, and more importantly, affordable. Our kids ran in a happy pack all day long, and the potlucks were legendary. Everyone from that time misses those days. I'm a long way from retirement, but I can't imagine a better scenario than a small but safe apartment with young families, children, and peers all around me, sharing resources and time. I'll watch those kids but can you fix my roof? It makes sense financially, from a sustainability standpoint, and mental healthwise. Excited to read about this in the NYTimes. I'm all in!
82
Eco Village of Loudoun County, an hour outside of Washington, DC is a co-housing community. It is in a rural area, on about 70 acres rife with streams, woods, meadows, and a cummunity garden and playground. Everyone knows everyone else, as well as their kids and animals. Kids actually play outside, with other kids! Residents share potlucks and celebrations, as well as tasks for running the community. It's a wonderful way to live!
53