Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: CoHousing to Meet Needs of Disabled

[Diane Simpson (dqs]

Once again we go back to the old question that keeps being raised over and
over again...should cohousing have a specific emphasis or should it just be
for anyone who cares to join? Under the current definition, a "cohousing
community for people who want to live and work with people who have
disabilities" would not be cohousing at all, it would be an intentional
community.

There is a cohousing-like community in Amherst Massachusetts called Pomeroy
Lane that was developed by a couple of nonprofit agencies and a core group
of disabled people. It took five years of weekly meetings and not all the
people who worked on the project were able to get in due to the strings
that were attached by the government funders. The government agencies
stipulated that the residents had to be chosen by lottery. Also, the
development is not for entire families--it was built just for the disabled
people themselves. It is also a limited-equity cooperative. The winter 1997
issue of Cohousing Journal had an article about Pomeroy Lane--check it out!

--Diane:.)

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On Sun, 21 Feb 1999 Carol wrote:
>I'm the parent of a 20 year old with autism....I'm interested in forming a
>>cohousing group for families with disabled children & adult dependents,
>>particularly those with autism. The type of cohousing arrangement I have
>in >mind would be for entire families, not just the disabled family
>members.  >Non-family members would also be welcome in the community if
>they have a >desire to live & work with people who have disabilities.
>
>What is the likelihood of supporting a venture of this type with private
>funds?  Families of disabled children often have limited resources and must
>pay for medical care & services out of their own pocket which are not covered
>by insurance or government programs.  So, it's unlikely that families will
>have the resources necessary to finance a project like this themselves.  What
>about government funding, grants, etc.?  What are the likely drawbacks of
>utilizing government funding (other than the obvious red-tape)?

       @@                   DQS [at] WORLD.STD.COM                  @@
      @@@@      Diane Simpson  http://world.std.com/~dqs      @@@@
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