Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Intentional Communities vs. Cohousing

[Kevin Wolf (dcn00056]

HI, My thoughts on some of Robs definition of co-housing follows.

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Kevin Wolf
724 N St
Davis, CA 95616
phone and fax: 916-758-4211

On Tue, 12 Jul 1994, Rob Sandelin wrote:

> 
> Another difference of cohousing is that it is pretty much developed for 
> and by the middle and upper middle economic class.   Homes are 
> individually owned, and there is some common ownership of land or 
> buildings.  Another difference is that Cohousing is often (usually) 
> bank financed, which implies a certain level of legal and financial 
> organization.

In N Street, a significant number of our members are in the lower income 
class, there is no common ownership of land, half the homes are 
not owned by individuals and the entire organization is ad hoc and does 
not have legal status. ( It does have a bank account.)  Yet we are 
certainly a co-housing group, just a completely different model than the 
build from scratch model.

We have a common house where meals are eaten together on a voluntary basis.

WE have individual houses, both leased and owned which are all connected 
togehter by open spaces - no fences between.  

We have many commonly owned and used things such as kids play structure, 
washers and dryers, a shop, tools etc.

We pay monthly dues ($12/mo/adult) to the community for various things.

We have common goals, purpose, and philosophy (at least towards how we 
intereat with the kids).

As we understand co-housing, we fit the bill.  A number of us think t hat 
our model is more easily duplicated, especially in cities with high land 
values.   I hope we can expand the definition to include groups like ours 
in large part to expand the options people have for living in this type 
of community.    

Kevin

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