Cohousing-L Mailing List: Elevators and exclusions

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

By building a cohousing community you are excluding most people right from
the start who would never choose to live in such close association with
their neighbors. You are excluding those who do not like meetings, you are
excluding those who want privacy. The list of exclusions involved in
creating a community from scratch is huge and probably the biggest in many
cohousing endeavors is economic. Lots of people simply can not afford to buy
a house.  So to worry about being exclusionary is not worth the energy.

Instead, you might think about what goes on upstairs which is being denied
people if you choose not to host the expense of an elevator. If dinner and
large meeting space is on the accessible floor, then what exactly would the
upper floors be used for?  And then take into account if those activities
could be moved to the lower floor if needed to accommodate someone.  If
upstairs is secondary meeting rooms, library, etc then you might not want to
host the expense of an elevator and rather, if the need arises, simply move
those activities down to the main floor.  A large dining room can host many
activities besides dinner.

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood Cohousing