Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: ...Cohousing in existing neighborhood (Boston area)

[Kevin Wolf (kjwolf]

On Thu, 13 Apr 1995, Stuart Staniford-Chen wrote:

> <Maren Cooke writes about their co-op house and how they'd like to buy the 
> house next door and start being a cohousing community.>

Stuart, my neighbor responded with this:

> Firstly, I'd just like to wish Teal the very best of luck in acquiring the  
> house next door.  This is exactly how N St got started - a large co-op  
> house where one of the members bought the house next door.

snip snip> 

I have thought a lot about how to start retrofit cohousing.  It is not, 
"build it and they will come".  It is more, "live it and it will build".

My advice is to get any of the five(?) houses that might touch your 
property and rent it, buy it or have that house join you and TEAR THE 
FENCE DOWN!  With the fence down, you can more easily visit one another 
and thus find out how much you both have in common.  If you can bring 
friends in who share a common dream of creating community, you can have 
instant success.  Two houses create community. Eat together (occasionally 
or more often), share dreams, share things, and have fun and work 
together.  

Even if the landlord ends the relationship and you are unable to open any 
other houses, you will have shared the benefits of community.  Ignore the 
possible pessimistic thinking involved in starting something that isn't 
secure, in something you don't have complete control  over it.  

Live it and it will build.  Believe this and I believe most attempts 
will, over ten - twenty years, build into an N St type cohousing 
community.  Houses eventually turn over, and your living the life you 
envision wanting to live will so influence others that you will attract 
a core of people who will help you create the vision.   

Good luck in your venture.  I hope that people every where will begin 
creating small communities of two homes without fences.  

--- Kevin Wolf
724 N St
Davis, CA 95616
phone and fax: 916-758-4211