Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sharing Economy/Truly Capitalist

[Catya Belfer (catya]

For what it's worth, I have a twenty-something renter in my house and it's
GREAT to have him as a member of my household / my community.  (My 1400 sq
ft 3 bed 2 bath house is me, my teenager, my aging-in-place mother, and
said roommate.)

My son & I also come from a background of all-under-one-roof
consensus-based community, which helps.

     - cat

Catya Belfer   -  www.catya.org
Technical Director   -   www.cohousing.org
Cohousing in MA - www.mosaic-commons.org

On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 8:19 AM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> 
wrote:

>
> In my architectural practice specialty, eldercare, this model is often
> called “congregate care”.  The basic concept is that of a large apartment:
> bed/sitting rooms, sometimes with private bathrooms, and sometimes with
> conveniently located common bathrooms clustered with bedroom groups — all
> connected to a common kitchen / living / dining area shared by all.  Some
> of these congregate care units incorporate a small suite for a live-in
> caregiver / helper.  This is a care model that provides some semblance of
> conventional living, but at a lower cost of both construction and
> management.  (I’ve made the case before that one of the very best
> affordability strategies is sharing; the more you can successfully share —
> including a foundation, a roof, a boiler, and a car — the less everything
> costs …)
>
> Yes, yes, I know that in cohousing, we’re talking about entirely
> independent living, not an assisted living care model.  Even so, the
> eldercare experience may offer instructive analogs.  The big question is,
> Does it “work”?  The answer is a resounding “Maybe … if …”
>
> For this shared accommodation, “extended family” model to work, its
> participants must expect it, and want it, to work.  The occupants must have
> some control over who joins them, must feel like they all want to, and can,
> live together cooperatively.  They must feel like they have chosen this
> model as offering significant advantages … rather than that they were “put”
> in it because of some life failure.  They must understand that each person
> should expect to make some compromises and deferences (not so easy,
> perhaps, for an 82-year-old).  And frankly, they often benefit from a
> “coach” (maybe the live-in caregiver) who can help them process their way
> through the inevitable conflicts and disappointments.
>
> So: Will the congregate apartment model become popular in North American
> cohousing?  It’s popular in Scandinavian eldercare, from whence cometh
> cohousing itself, but in America, I think it has a long row to hoe.  One of
> its embedded characteristics is that of intentional discrimination.  While
> we think that segregation by age is OK, maybe even a plus, segregation by
> income or ownership status is far more problematic.
>
> Thanks,
> Philip Dowds
> Cornerstone Village Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
>
> > On Oct 21, 2015, at 2:45 PM, Beverly Jones Redekop <
> beverly.jones.redekop [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > We call it the quad...and it adds another level of complication to the
> > already intentional complexity of cohousing.
> >
> > I love the people in the quad, and I am happy to have each of them as
> > neighbours, but I don't think it was a very good idea to build it.
> >
> > The rent for the four suites in this one "quad" unit is the same or more
> > than rent would be for two 2-bedroom units, so there is no affordability
> > advantage. I don't think they like sharing a kitchen with so many people,
> > as many of them are adding kitchenette-type appliances to their private
> > sitting areas. It has been occupied since 2010, but the private backyard
> is
> > still in construction condition with no landscaping -- I think it’s
> harder
> > for residents to define their sense of personal stewardship in this
> > ambiguous space. It is just terribly rigid: our other homes can work
> > interchangeably for singles, couples, or families, but the quad is
> > trickier.
> >
> > It would be better to have two flexible 2-bedroom units that are tweaked
> a
> > bit to be better for equal roommates: equal-sized bedrooms, perhaps with
> > separate bathrooms, and maybe two distinct pantries and coat closets.
> > Perhaps the living room could have old-fashioned pocket doors to allow it
> > to be two separate sitting areas as needed.
> >
> > The two units could be situated beside each other to make a bit of a
> quad,
> > but they would retain the flexibility of being able to hold other
> household
> > types.
> >
> > For the same rent that they pay in the quad, they could have 2:1 kitchen
> > ratios instead of a 4:1 kitchen ratio.
> >
> > That being said, if someone out there is considering this model, I could
> > introduce you to residents who may see it more positively than I do.
> >
> > Beverly
> > www.groundswellcohousing.ca
> > Yarrow, BC
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 11:15 AM Kathryn McCamant <
> > kmccamant [at] cohousing-solutions.com> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Yarrow EcoVillage, in British Columbia, has a shared house with four
> >> suites (large bedroom and private bathroom), and shared kitchen living
> >> area. I hear it is working well and allows (mostly single) people of
> >> various ages to rent in the community. The key is having a couple
> >> community investors who are willing to own this unit.  I think in the
> >> current conservative lending environment, it would be very challenging
> to
> >> get loans for the “shares” of a unit like this. In theory, it could be
> >> owned as “tenants in common” but those tend to be messy when people want
> >> to sell their share. Perhaps better to keep it a rental for long term
> >> flexibility and to diversify who can participate in cohousing. From the
> >> plannng department point of view, it is reall just a large home with one
> >> kitchen. From a community point of view, you should probably plan for
> >> their being one car per resident in a shared home, unless you live in a
> >> truly urban environment where people really live car-free.
> >>
> >>
> >> Katie
> >> --
> >> Kathryn McCamant, President
> >> Nevada City Cohousing and
> >> CoHousing Solutions
> >> 241B Commercial Street
> >> Nevada City, CA 95959
> >> T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
> >> www.cohousing-solutions.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 10/21/15, 10:55 AM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of Emilie Parker"
> >> <cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org 
> >> on
> >> behalf of emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>> On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 9:08 AM, Sharon Villines
> >>> <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> As we have discussed before, if we want to have 20-somethings living
> in
> >>>> cohousing, we need to have rental units. And/or shared living
> >>>> arrangements
> >>>> where young singles can have a private room and bathroom and share
> other
> >>>> facilities.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ​If you could get approval for a shared house in cohousing which is not
> >>> the
> >>> case in Boulder County right now, would you design it with a shared
> >>> kitchen
> >>> in addition to the common house kitchen?  Do any cohousing communities
> >>> have
> >>> the shared living arrangements you describe?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----------------
> >>> Emilie Parker
> >>> emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com
> >>> 303-317-4558 main
> >>> 240-350-8533 cell
> >>> My website: www.emilieparker.com
> >>> Artists Cohousing website: www.artistscohousing.com
> >>> Art Cohousing Meetup:  www.meetup.com/artists-housing-community
> >>> _________________________________________________________________
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>
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> >>
> >>
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