Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Group Size Units to Adult Ratios

[Kay Argyle (argyle]

> I am concerned about what this says about the cohousing's attraction to
> families. Were the four bedroom homes the single members' first choice for
> housing, or were the units purchased by childless singles because families
> were not interested and/or involved at the time that the units were
available?
> > David Roberts

Smaller units were still available at the time those two four-bedrooms were
reserved.  One owner is a single older woman who likes her privacy.  The
other unit was purchased by a young couple just starting their family.  The
unit is rented while the husband attends school elsewhere.  The renter had a
room-mate when he first moved in.

Like Takoma Village, there's no correlation between household size and unit
size. Our three biggest (four-member) households are in two- or
three-bedroom units.  We've got ten households with a single child each (in
one case, grandmother, grown daughters, grandchild), two with two children,
one with three.

It's been my observation, at least for us, that people with kids have more
problems staying involved -- they don't have enough time, and if the kids
are teens they are frequently unenthusiastic, even hostile, about moving.

> So much for having a common value of living lightly on the land.
> Kevin

Certain values tend to come in clusters, which is why people who value
community frequently also value living lightly -- it's not part of the core
definition of cohousing.  Even people who share that value, however, may
still be in the St. Augustine stage (you know, as in "Lord, give me
chastity -- but not yet.")

Actually, for some of our members, having only a single child is an
important expression of "living lightly."  When you figure in the effects of
the next generation, who's living more lightly, a family with a single child
but four bedrooms, or a family with three bedrooms but four children?

The mother with three (at-home) kids has commented on occasionally feeling
covertly disapproved of for her family size.  That undercurrent may explain
why we haven't recruited many multi-child families.

Kay Argyle
argyle [at] mines.utah.edu
Wasatch Commons
Salt Lake City

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