Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Fifty Plus Cohousing

[Bob Morrison (bomorris]

On 2/15/03, "Sara A." <mabonwy [at] mindspring.com> wrote:

>  >but until a better term
>>comes along, I can't imagine it would harm anybody or the movement >
in any
>>way. Why does it matter to you?

>Because it will indeed harm people and the movement.  If you justify
>excluding people under a certain age because they don't share
>"common interests, etc", then why not exclude people for other
> reasons?  Ethnicity, country of origin, physical abilities, sexual
> orientation?

  Part of the answer is that excluding people on the basis of ethnicity
etc. is against the law, and imposing an age restriction such as "over
50" isn't.
  Millions of people in the U.S. live in housing communities with a
minimum age such as 50 or 55, and they aren't all in the Sunbelt either.
There are several dozen around here (New England) that are newly built
or under construction, and some are in areas that would not normally be
considered ideal places to retire.
  There is a huge difference between a conventional retirement community
and what a retirement community based on the cohousing concept would be
like. For starters, I have never heard of a retirement community where
the future residents help design the place. Yes, sometimes you can
choose what kinds of floor coverings or appliances you will have in a
retirement-community unit that is under construction, but other than
that you can only pick and choose among other people's designs, just
like in conventional, non-retirement housing.
  If a group of people who are over 50 would like to build a retirement
cohousing community, I think it would be a great idea.

Bob Morrison
Salem, NH

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