Re: cohousing for elderly
From: Fred H Olson (fholsonmaroon.tc.umn.edu)
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 10:00:09 -0600
On Tue, 18 Mar 1997, Henk Kroon of the Netherlands ca79 [at] solo.pipex.co.za. 
( from May 1997 on gambit [at] worldaccess.nl)  wrote:

> We are a group of three elderly families (average age 62 and pensioners) =
> 
> that would like to start a co-housing project in the Netherlands.
> 
...
> 
> We are particularly interested in:
...
> 
>       integration with other generations or strictly over 55
> 

I think this is a key decision. Typically cohousing communities
are eclectic but from time to time I hear of more homogeneous groups
such as single mothers with reasonable incomes or vegetarians or vegans
or older people who are contemplating cohousing.

Generally I personally dont like to limited a group.
( tho food preference based groups have an attraction (at least in
passing) given the prominence common meals in cohousing :)

In my experience their are two tendencies among older folks --
those who want to live without the nuisance of kids around    and
those who find kids to be a valuable feature (despite the inevitable 
complications :)

My guess ( I have no real data) is that more older folks would welcome 
having kids around than current U.S. housing projects designed for older 
people allow for. But then planning in the U.S. often is very segmented -
explicitly by income, age, ownership pattern (own vs rent) and defacto by 
race / culture.

I think it can be argued that their eclectic groups have an advantage
of diversity of resources, skills and recruiting opportunities.  Tho I've 
also observed more committed groups (non cohousing) when they are more
committed to a more limited specific goal.

>       any thoughts on ideal number of project members =


My personal target is usually 30 households tho again I dont have that 
much objective data experience.  I think the range of number of adults might 
also be a design criteria (to accomodate various household sizes).  
The low end of the size range should allow for enough folks that one does
not feel the need to relate "too closely" to everyone -- families with
exasperating kids for example :)

Fred   who will be 50 in May (our son will be 8 in April)

Homewood Retrofit Cohousing - house two is occupied tho looking for 2
housemates.  We have agreed to eat together once a week and invite
one prospective member and neighbor each week.
 http://freenet.msp.mn.us/housing/cohousing/homewood/

--
Fred H. Olson  fholson [at] tc.umn.edu  (612)588-9532  Amateur radio: WB0YQM 
List manager of  Nbhd-tc (Twin Cities Neighborhood issues)  and
Cohousing-L (see http://www.cohousing.org )

Note: I encourage posters to occasionally add a few lines of update
about their community at the end of their messages the way Judy Baxter of 
MOCOCO does and I did above.

  • cohousing for elderly Henk-Andr=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E9 Kroon, March 18 1997
    • Re: cohousing for elderly Fred H Olson, March 19 1997

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