Your November News & Updates on Cohousing | |
Nevada City Cohousing, CA | |
Seventy-four percent of the population get a significant sense of community and daily company from their workplace.1 Camaraderie, Friday night beers, relationships big and small. I know that I have over the years. The number one indicator for longevity is daily interaction. Howdy to the postman; to the delivery person; coworker a, b, and c; and neighbors. Number two is community connections—who can I depend on to bring me a bowl of chicken soup when I have a cold? 2 | |
The pandemic shifted that and many of the associated rituals that went with it like listening to your favorite talk radio on the way to work or reading the paper or books on public transit. We had about 30 of the 54 residents in Nevada City Cohousing that worked entirely or partially during the pandemic at home. But we also had 7:00 pm music playing, 6:00 pm common dinners and potlucks (separated of course). Cohousers are clever and responsible. Planting and harvesting at 8:00 am, farmer’s market on Thursdays at 5:30 pm, and plenty of get-togethers, in the way of walks, meetings and even outdoor movies in between. Masked and separated. At Nevada City Cohousing we say that we are socially distanced, but not socially isolated. | |
Three people that grew up in Nevada City Cohousing (Jessie, Dominic and Joy) and now they all live and work in Washington D.C.. They all know how to work with people because they grew up in cohousing. | |
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So working at home is getting more and more popular. That sounds like back to the village—being around during the day. But in general, where is the community going to be if I work at home. Enter cohousing—many of my neighbors have said, “Thank god that they lived in cohousing during the pandemic.”
Going from 10 to 4 employees alone made a difference in my workplace community. Working at home was truly mitigated by living in cohousing. The same was true for the school kids. So much tutoring went on on the front porches in cohousing regarding math, music, essays, exercise, and much more. Maybe the future will be the village or at least village life (cohousing) will be a part of the increasing reality. And given our overall environmental advantages—one resident announced that for 20 years pre-cohousing/pre-pandemic he bought 5–6 tanks of gas and later (also pre-pandemic) uses less than one per month. Our average household used 350,000 gal of water per year and now used less than 70,000 gal per year living in cohousing, and hundreds of other positive indicators.
Isolation is real—but it doesn’t have to be.
Charles Durrett
1. “Loneliness and The Workplace”, 2020 U.S. Report, retrieved from: https://www.cigna.com/static/www-cigna-com/docs/about-us/newsroom/studies-and-reports/combatting-loneliness/cigna-2020-loneliness-report.pdf
2. Susan Pinker, “The secret to living longer may be your social life”, Ted Talk, retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_pinker_the_secret_to_living_longer_may_be_your_social_life/transcript?fbclid=IwAR2qh2Sv-wGNd3vu3zCtiHTKcRORtARJMSUgeQ69O41G1iZ3J4j1VNodiWI
| Three people that grew up in Nevada City Cohousing (Jessie, Dominic and Joy) and now they all live and work in Washington D.C.. They all know how to work with people because they grew up in cohousing. | |
Auburn Cohousing Getting-It-Built Workshop | |
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More cohousing communities in North America have been successfully launched by the Getting-It-Built Workshop than by any other means. The first weekend of November (Nov 6–7, 2021), Auburn Cohousing had their Getting-It-Built Workshop successfully. We had a full house of potential community members, guest speakers (Shawna Purvines, the Placer County Deputy Director of Community Development Resource Agency and Darryl Berlin, Project Manager of Fair Oaks Ecohousing).
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The Auburn group has been trying to make something happen for a long time, GIB Workshop makes it happen. And it will better situate the Auburn Cohousing group to start making some serious movement. The GIB Workshop provides focus to the group’s time and energy, and aids in moving the project past initial feasibility to getting the required commitment and buy-in from the group of community members, investors, project developers and other professionals. This is an efficient and necessary step for the integration of the project budget and financing, the design and development, and the community building and sales required for a successful cohousing project.
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The Auburn group is really surprised and happy to see how supportive the Placer County is for Auburn Cohousing. And they’ve gotten a clearer idea on how the development process will be like and what the project budget and financing estimation is. Now the Auburn group will start taking their next step, forming their LLC. It’s not too late to join the Auburn group now. Please contact Merrill Kagan-Weston at cohoauburn@gmail.com if you are interested in knowing more details.
“Chuck Durrett facilitated the discussion at Auburn Cohousing’s Getting-it-Built workshop last weekend. It was so inspiring to see a group of people who just came together a few months ago moving steadily forward with creating their dream neighborhood. By learning the sequence of steps they need to take, they have formed themselves into a “lean, mean, cohousing machine!” Get the job done! No green bananas!”—Newt Crossing Community guest members at the workshop.
Additional Information for Auburn Cohousing
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Haystack Heights Cohousing, Spokane, WA | |
Most of the residents have already moved in into Spokane Cohousing. October 27, 2021, Mariah Rose McKay, one of the residents got to cook and serve their first family-style dinner in the Spokane Cohousing common house to 26 neighbors. On the menu was roasted and stuffed mini pumpkins from the garden with mustard greens, dried pears, and plum leather as other ingredients from their onsite garden as well. It was great! | |
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"Chuck, it feels like New Orleans",
said one resident as he was moving in.
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November 2, 2021, a member of Spokane Cohousing organized a lovely multi-generational cider pressing event in their cohousing community garden that the group hope will become an annual tradition.
Additional Information for Spokane Cohousing
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River Song Cohousing, Eugene, OR | |
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River Song Cohousing, now under construction, Will Dixon, in the group from the beginning - and has endured NIMBY like never before. Anyway Will has gone from resident to local architect. The Cohousing Company has formally handed over the project to him as the new architect of record - and he is truly set up for success which is essential if he plans to live there - which he does. Here he stands in the pad of his new "D" unit as they proceed along, now two months into it.
Additional Information for Eugene Cohousing
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Will Dixon stands in the pad of his new "D" unit | |
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SAGE Current Vision, Mission, and Aims | |
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SAGE is seeking cohousing enthusiasts to help them promote to boomers and others the cohousing option as a better, more sustainable way to live. They are a small group of volunteers who seek others to help write articles and present online programming about the benefits of cohousing including senior cohousing. Please contact the SAGE Board to join if you are interested.
Their Vision is that every senior in the U.S. and Canada knows that senior cohousing is designed to meet the unique needs of seniors, and they have the resources available to find or create a senior cohousing community.
Their Mission is to create senior cohousing resources and make them readily available, which will enable seniors to find existing communities or learn how to start a community.
How they aim to achieve this Mission:
- Engage project teams to help carry out SAGE's outreach work, including newsletter and website articles; programming (panel presentations, Q&A sessions); and other resources that advance senior cohousing.
- Maintain and update a resource-rich website and other social media
- Maintain a current directory of senior cohousing communities
- Provide helpful responses to those who contact us for information
- Augment the activities of other cohousing organizations by focusing on seniors
Additional Information for SAGE
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A Solution to Homelessness in Your Town
is now available on Audible!
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Sometimes the words lift off of the page in a book on tape. Sometimes they are richer than reading the book itself. That is the case with Janet Borrus reading the book A Solution to Homelessness in Your Town and on enlivening such a dour topic—she is a true talent.
All 14 auditions felt passionately about the topic, but Janet read it the best amongst an unbelievably talented cast. She is an actress by trade. She brought inflection to each character and gave every sentence her heart.
Please recommend this audiobook to anyone and everyone that you know who cares about this immediate and dire concern to us all - homelessness in America.
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The Secret to Living Longer Is Clearly Your Social Life | |
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Longevity and elder health are often attributed to diet and activity. This study suggests that both of those fall for below:
1. Social integration
2. Close relationships
This study indicates that they are the top 2 indicators of longevity and health. One is how many times a day you get the opportunity to interact with others, even if just to say howdy and “How are you?” “Hope you’re doing fine.” And two would be who you ask to bring you a bowl of soup for dinner (easy in cohousing). Exercise and diet are 7th and 8th as indicators by comparison - see video.
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Co-Housing|A Conversation with Charles Durrett
At Home, On Air Podcast
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Q: In the pre-interview, you said that your approach to your projects more like an anthropologist rather than a designer. Can you talk a little bit about that?
A: That’s certainly my favorite part of my whole career, thinking about the culture, and the values, and the experiences of these people, who come to the table to create cohousing. And, not only what they want or think they want, but most importantly, through the conversation who they aspire to become. And there is a lot of culture change embedded in that conversation around sharing. Nevada City Cohousing has 34 households, and we have one lawnmower, and shared cars, and hundreds and hundreds of things that we share together - seems to be impossible for a regular neighborhood to accomplish. And yet when you come to the table with living lighter on the planet in mass, it’ssimply more possible. It’s so hard to live lighter on the planet, all by yourself. To the point that it becomes almost rhetoric. And sometimes you have to actually look at two different people’s magazine subscriptions to know which one thinks they’re living lighter on the planet, and which one thinks they’re not.
Click to Listen to the Full Interview
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First Name: Kay
Age: 80
Birth town: Cassville, MO
Years in Cohousing: Developing 2.5 years, living in cohousing 9 years
Cohousing Community where you live: Oak Creek Community in Stillwater, OK
Favorite food or pastime: Anything outside from golf/walking to yardwork
Your favorite cohousing activities: Common meals, landscape work, financial stability to the community
What you like most about your cohousing community: Knowing that I can count on my neighbors to provide support, information and encouragement when I need help with just about anything.
Your average cost of living per month: $584/month ($319 dues includes water/sewer, gas, waste removal, street cleaning, cable, phone and internet, property insurance on common property and exterior of my home and contribution to a reserve fund. Additional $65/month for electricity, $65/month for condo insurance and property tax $135/month). Food and transportation costs are less because I don’t use my car as much and there is a lot of food sharing.
Average cost of living for an 80 year old in assisted living in Oklahama: $5280/month for private, $4530/month for semi private.
If you would like to be featured as our next “Meet a Cohouser” please email us at charles.durrett@cohousingco.com
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Does Co-Housing Provide a Path to Happiness for Modern Parents? | |
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Eastern Village, a 55-unit apartment complex off a commercial strip in Silver Spring, Md., is a surprisingly lovely place, considering that it once housed the drab offices of a social workers’ association and then stood abandoned for nearly a decade, water dripping through the ceilings. When I visited this summer, ivy cascaded so exuberantly over the facade that I walked past the entrance. The landscaped courtyard, wrested out of a parking lot, exuded European charm. Looking up, I saw open walkways lined with balconies, flowers and herbs. Then I spotted a baldish man sitting at a little round table waving to me. He had to be Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block, a friend of a friend I had asked to show me around the place.
I was there to find out about life in a co-housing community. Ever since I had my first child and was sucked into the vortex of parental logistics, I’d been wondering how to make child rearing a more sociable activity. I hadn’t foreseen that motherhood would turn our home in the suburbs, a Dutch colonial with a box-hedged yard, into a site of solitary confinement — a very bucolic site, I freely admit. (Having no right to complain has never stopped me from complaining.) But when the baby and I trundled along narrow sidewalks or weed-choked roadsides, we saw almost no people, just cars. “It was as if mankind had already made way for another species,” I told my husband, stealing the line from the novelist W.G. Sebald.
Around then, I began to read desultorily about American experiments in communal living — 19th-century utopias, religious communities, hippie communes. These seemed as far-off as the moon. Still, I hoped that they’d pull back the curtain of the present and reveal a different tableau of motherhood.
Several years later, it has become clear that I am not alone in my longing for the shared life. About four years ago, stories began appearing about co-living, often an investor-driven effort to create dormitory-like housing, mostly for transient, affluent twentysomethings. (Think WeWork for the off hours.) Co-living apartments are now offered to families, too, along with cleaning services, child care, community events and yoga — all for a nice, fat price.
Click here to read the full article
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