Cohousing-L Mailing List: CoHousing and Housing Coops; Not the Same

[Joani Blank (jeblank]

At 03:59 PM 3/11/96 -0600, you wrote:

Yesterday, Tim wrote
>                           
>. It seems that most Cohos are based on some philosophical
>lifestyle in which all the members agree to participate in.  

Au contraire, tim. Most of us share little ideology other than the desire to
live in much closer community with our neighbors than is now possible in the
city, countryside or suburbs, considering the
isolation-masquerading-as-privacy inherent in almost all contemporary North
American housing developments
>
 of the philosophical principals of "co-housing" will become a 
>part of our project.
>
I predict that unless you find a way to do at least a couple of common meals
per week--even if you don't have the resources to build a common house and
just do it by means of a rotating dinner club or series of clubs--you won't
ever get to cohousing. Having even the most simple of common houses would be
a boon. Also, if you can find a way to park all your cars on the periphery
so that people won't be able to jump out of their cars and go into their
houses without encountering their neighbors, you'll get a bunch more
interactions without much (any?) expense. 

>Please note that most cooperative housing is actually co-housing in 
>its reliance on the participation of its members in running and 
>governing the community

Well, that is an important part, but it is by no means defining of cohousing. 

and that many existing co-housing projects 
>use a cooperative ownership structure.
>
Not many.Most are Condos or PUDs. A few are coops, but getting financing is
difficult, particularly for all new construction, 

Joani Blank
Doyle Street CoHousing, Emeryville, CA
future resident of Old Oakland CoHousing at Swan's Market (soon to be the
most urban coho community in North America)