Cohousing-L Mailing List: Household Composition Survey

[Joani Blank (jeblank]

My fellow (and sister) cohousers,

Some of you may recall that in mid 1966 and then again at the end of '96. I
asked groups represented on this list to submit some date about the
composition of the households in  their respective groups. I received
information from nineteen groups, most of them built and occupied. They are
listed below. 

The following are aggregate data, and of course they reflect the moment in
time in each community when the person reporting sent me his or her little
report. Also, there are undoubtedly errors in arithmetic (never my strong
suit), and some of my questions were interpreted differently by some
respondents than by others: 

This little survey is not rocket science, folks. It hardly passes for
social science, but it interested me so I decided to ask. The same thing
goes for my choice of questions, so please don't ask me why I didn't
include income or race or more details about age or any other demographic
questions. I just didn't---but I hope someone else will, and will continue
doing similar small researches. 

SO...These data came from:

Arcadia, Berkeley, Cantines Island, Cardiff Place, Jewell Hill, Muir
Commons, Grell, Creyrock, Southside Park, Sharingwood, Monterey (MN),
Westwood, WIndsong, Quayside, Mimosa, Doyle St., Old Oakland, Pioneer
Valley, N. Street.

TOTAL Households:                       393
Two parent families:                      26            (32)
Couples with no children (not yet, childless by choice or grown)   65   (17%)
Single parents:                                                    44
    (11%)
Gay or Lesbian couples                                     7 (all lesbian)
(<2%)
Single women:  54 < 60;   29  >60                    83         (28%)
Single men:   20 <60;  9 >  60                            29           (7%)
Two or more unrelated persons sharing     31          (8%)  (I think this
may be an overestimation, since it      looked like the data sent to me from N
Street referred to people instead of numbers of this type of    household. N
St., can you clarify,)
           
TOTAL number of people:                            808   
       Children                                         272         (34%)
      Adults under 60                                            466
      People over 60,.                            70             (5%)

Hope this is helpful to some  of you. If you are not listed above, please
send me your numbers and after a while I'll add them in, thus keeping us
more or less up to date with our demographics. Yes, of course new
communities can add on. Y' don't even have to be all built, 

Joani Blank
Doyle St. and Old Oakland CoHousig.