Re: Older cohousers
From: David L. Mandel (75407.2361compuserve.com)
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 95 19:51 CST
Vanessa from the UK asked about older folks in cohousing. I tried to answer 
directly to her e-mail address, but it was returned to me as a non-working 
address. (Thanks to whoever out there who does such things.) So I'm posting 
what I wrote here, in hopes that you see it, Vanessa. And if by some chance 
the address you gave was wrong, write a correction. Also, everyone might as 
well notice my final line -- inquiry about cohousers or similar communities in
Ireland.

Dear Vanessa:

We deliberately sought to have a diverse population at Southside Park 
Cohousing, and as far as age goes, we succeeded fairly well (not as well in 
some other ways). Two of our members celebrated their 70th birthdays in the 
last year; another one I'm pretty sure is over 65 but she hasn't shared that 
vital statistic with me.

The two 70-year-olds especially are pretty exceptional people, and their 
desire to live in cohousing I think demonstrates that. Interestingly enough, 
however, I've still been surprised by the width of a generation gap that 
appears sometimes over certain issues, particularly regarding attitudes toward
children. Perhaps I shouldn't be.

Though it hasn't happened very much yet, I still do hope that the older 
members will play somewhat of a role of surrogate grandparents for the many 
children here whose own grandparents live very far away.

As for advantages for older residents themselves, I'd point to greater 
security, less isolation, availability of helpers for small (and some large) 
physical tasks as they inevitably become less able. Beyond that, you should 
probably ask them directly. If you wish, give me a snail mail address and I'll
forward the question to them. I can't promise they'll respond, of course.

I hope you'll summarize your findings whatever they turn out to be and post 
them on the cohousing-l forum.

Last item: Do you know of any cohousing efforts (or intentional communities of
a similar nature) in Ireland? We may be visiting there this summer. Thanks.

David Mandel


Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.