Cohousing-L Mailing List: cohousing in Canada

[tom ponessa (tom_ponessa]

Russell Mawby, director of the Collaborative Housing Society
passes on the following recommendation:

There's an excellent research report available from CMHC (Canada
Mortgage and Housing Corp.) on sustainable communities in
Scandinavia.  One of the key findings of this research is that
"small groups of houseseekers and neighbourhood communities
_can_ "act locally" on the global environmental crisis.  User
participant design of the neighbourhood and housing are key
factors" in advancing sustainability - in other words, cohousing.
The purpose (and usefulness) of this study is to persuade local
and regional governments and housing industries to support user-
participation in housing delivery, and points out some of the
reasons this _doesn't_ happen, and ways in which it could.

One of the authors is David Van Vliet, formerly of Calgary, now
living in Vancouver.  He has been supporting cohousing initiatives
for a while, but I'm not sure what he's up to right now.  I am not
familiar with the other author (William T. Perks).  The study is
titled "Assessment of Built Projects for Sustainable
Communities", published by and available from CMHC in Ottawa.
Their address is 700 Montreal Rd., Ottawa, Ontario.  K1A 0P7, or
call the Canadian Housing Information Centre division of CMHC at
(613) 748-2000.  Cost is minimal, and is free for Canadian
residents.