Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: How Long has your co-housing community been in existence?

[Raines Cohen (rc2-coho-L]

Becky Logan <Becky_Logan [at] SpringerMiller.com> wrote:

>I wanted to gather some statistics to see if indeed these communities are
>capable of continuing indefinitely.  Thanks.

I think what Becky is trying to figure out is whether there are cohousing 
communities out there that have failed or stopped being cohousing 
(correct me if I'm wrong, Becky!)

Certainly, groups do fail quite frequently in the development process, 
but not as often as other forms of intentional communities. The further 
along a group is in the process, and the more committed members with 
money and their future homes on the line, the better its chances. 

There are only a few U.S. cohousing communities that have been around 
more than a decade, so we don't have truly long-term data, but I am not 
aware of ANY communities that, once built and established and occupied, 
have ceased to be cohousing or have ceased to exist. Anyone got examples?

There are some communities in the development phases that have chosen to 
pursue forms other than cohousing, typically once they determine that 
their members, for financial or credit or other reasons, can't pursue the 
standard mortgage model that makes it possible to finance the development 
of cohousing through traditional housing-development channels. I know of 
a couple of small communities that used the term cohousing in their early 
phases but not in the way that we conventionally know it.

I know of one built community that is going through significant 
construction-defect woes resulting in 40% of the owners moving out during 
(re)construction (they were, after a lot of work, able to get the builder 
to pay for the necessary rebuilding without having to resort to legal 
nastiness), and which may be repopulated with a fresh set of members 
after the work is done.

I had someone last night ask me whether people live longer in cohousing 
than alone; I don't have an answer, but figure that we don't have 
sufficient data yet to answer that question other than anecdotally.

Raines

Raines Cohen <my initials,2,dash,coho,dash,L at my first name .com>

  Member, Swan's Market Coho [Oakland, CA] <http://www.swansway.com/>
Hosting a "Women's Night In" for its female residents this month.

  Secretary, Berkeley [CA] Cohousing
Where maintenance is calling in professional help to fix the CH lock.

  Facilitator, East Bay Cohousing <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
Participating in the Communities video showing at the Parkway this month.

  Boardmember, Coho/US <http://www.cohousing.org/>
Reminding members to renew early and often!

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