Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Commune, Communal, and Community

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

As a community type, communes can be defined as living situations  where all
the homes and land are jointly owned by the group, income is distributed,
and personal ownership is limited. Some communes share private assets, some
do not.

Cohousing can be defined as living situations where all or most the homes
are privately owned, all income is privately generated and owned, and
personal ownership is not restricted. Some community elements are held in
common and a community fee (assessment) covers group costs.


One of the primary differences between people that live in communes and
those that live in cohousing is annual income. In order to privately own a
home, it takes a much larger annual income than when a group owns all the
homes. Typical NW communal annual income is less than $10,000 a year.
Typical NW Cohousing owner annual income is greater than $40,000 a year.

Another primary difference between the two is that Cohousing is bank
financed, Communes are member financed. Another difference is the size and
elegance of the living space. All the cohousing I have ever seen with one
exception, is very elegant, modern housing. Most communes I have seen are
hand built homes, mostly very small and inexpensive, some elegant, some not
so elegant.

The prime characteristics that communes and cohousing share are: group
decision making, group meals, codependence on neighbors, strong social
bonding, conflict resolution issues, issues about living together such as
children, work requirements, community vision, sharing personal items.

Many of the attributes of cohousing are requirements for bank financing. If
cohousing were self  financed, it would be interesting to see how many
aspects of it would change.

Rob Sandelin
Community Works! Group process workshops for social change groups
See the resources at http://www.ic.org/nica/CW1.htm

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