Re: cohousing for older people | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Fred H Olson (fholson![]() |
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Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 08:59:19 -0600 (MDT) |
Jan Forbes responded Mon, 9 Jul 2001, wrote (tho it was posted by Katrina Lewis): > Asking why there is no 'elderly > cohousing' (my understanding is that people prefer the term older because of > the ageist connotations of words like elderly or aged) or cohousing for > older people in some countries and not others is a big question. I have no > idea what the answer is. It could have a lot to do with the different > legislative and policy frameworks, planning regulations, availability of > private finance and level and type of government support for social housing. I would speculate that the idea of cohousing may not have filtered down to those that plan housing for older people in the US where the idea has been around for 13 vs 30 years in Denmark). And that there is less willingness by those who do such planning to adopt new ideas. This is premised on several things which are somewhat speculative also. I wonder if housing for older people is less likely to be planned by residents (even in Denmark?) and therefore more planned by traditional organizations and intstitutions which may take longer to adopt new ideas. When I was in Denmark in 1999 I visited one cohousing community for older people called Gartnerhaven in Suskobing (sp?) near Maribo (on the Island of Lolland (south of Copenhagen down by Germany). My 78 year old cousin knew about this community and took me there when I was visiting him after our group tour of cohousing. It had 8 units, seemed very 'up scale'. I remember getting the impression that their commonhouse was used little and thy had few (monthly?) common meals. The common house seemed to be used more like a senior citizen center. The net impression I had was that it was a less cohesive community than others we visited. I wonder how much input the residents had on the development of the place (tho I dont remember anything specific). I also saw a report about Senior Cohousing ( ISBN 986536-0-1 Sept 1997) which I browsed a little but it was in Danish... All of my observations are suspect - based on a brief visit of just one community, but none the less it leads me to wonder what other differences there are in 'Senior Cohousing' in general. On the other hand I have learned - mostly from visiting Tinggarden (see 'the book') that what seems less cohesive compared to other communities can still be satisfying for the residents. Cohousing comes in many varieties which makes it hard to judge individual communites. Senior only vs mixed ages. My impression is that some seniors prefer 'senior only' housing and some prefer mixed ages. Seems like there is room for both and the goal is to match facilities to preferences so people dont find themselves in one or the other against their preference. I do wonder if there are more senior only (non-cohousing) housing in the US than there are people who prefer that. One interesting (sort of) senior only cohousing community that I visited was in central Stockholm, Sweden called Fardknappen. It was developed by people who wanted it to be for people "in the second half of life" so it only allows people over 40 who do not have dependants. They get criticized for this but I think people should be able to do what they want. Besides they have kids - visiting grand children who go home at night. Fred -- Fred H. Olson fholson [at] cohousing.org Minneapolis,MN 55411 (612)588-9532 Amateur radio: WB0YQM List manager of: Cohousing-L and Nbhd-tc (Twin Cities Neighborhood issues list) More info: http://www.mtn.org/~fholson/sig-detail.htm _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
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Fw: [C-L] cohousing for older people Katrina M. Lewis, July 9 2001
- RE: Fw: [C-L] cohousing for older people Rowenahc, July 10 2001
- Re: cohousing for older people Fred H Olson, July 11 2001
- Re: cohousing for older people Sharon Villines, July 11 2001
- Re: Fw: [C-L] cohousing for older people Elizabeth Stevenson, July 10 2001
- RE: [C-L] cohousing for older people Forbes Jan, July 11 2001
- RE: [C-L] cohousing for older people Forbes Jan, July 11 2001
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