Cohousing-L Mailing List: InterGenerational Cohousing [ was when all the men die (or something like that)]

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Feb 11, 2008, at 5:00 PM, Muriel Kranowski wrote:

> You can't expect the minority of younger more able
> folks to carry most of that load, and will have to plan for a  
> significant
> expenditure for hiring out needed work.

In our community the exact opposite is true. The younger set (under  
50) is busy having children, raising children, changing jobs, getting  
married, and generally dealing with the sturm and drang of their own  
lives. It's the 60-70 somethings who have the time and energy to  
dependably get things done.

> It concerns me that communities that started out intergenerational  
> will
> turn into de facto Elder Cohousing as homes are resold,

Our homes have sold largely to people who are younger than many of the  
current residents. Our youngest members moved in 5+ years after we got  
built. We have been adding children at a steady pace since we moved  
in. With 7 at move-in, 4 moved out, and we now have 20. Several  
singles (approaching 40) moved in with the intention of adopting or  
having babies -- so we have 7 of those including Yugoslavian, East  
Indian, and Vietnamese American.

A 75 year old chairs one of our three major teams. A 75+ woman plays  
gin rummy with a 10 year old when he gets home from school and his  
father isn't home yet. Our 85+ sweeps our side walks (many feet of  
them) on a regular basis, which we appreciate very much and it would  
likely not get done if he didn't do it.

This has been said many times on the list but families with small  
children are the last to move into cohousing because they don't have  
the time or the flexibility to take on such a labor intensive and  
unpredictable activity. They are busy, overwhelmed, and flustered most  
of the time and need to know exactly when the place will be built --  
not something most communities can tell them.

At the moment in our community, some of us are praying for no more  
children. The growth was too quick -- adoption and move-in of older  
children -- which has made it difficult to quickly absorb all the  
parenting styles and the noise.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org