Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Work distribution in senior cohousing?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jan 15, 2024, at 12:05 PM, David Heimann <heimann [at] theworld.com> wrote:
> 
> We have a 70+ gathering that meets periodically to discuss age-related 
> issues.  One issues that came up at our last discussion was a feeling of 
> being pushed on to do physical work tasks that one can no longer easily or 
> even possibly do, with the implication being that the old(er) residents are 
> not doing their "fair share" (quotes are deliberate), and that it would be 
> expensive to contract out those tasks because there are not enough strong 
> bodies to do them.

What I have worried about from the beginning of senior cohousing, only age 55+, 
is that those are the people who do all the work in cohousing communities. What 
happens when the majority of cohousers in a community are under 55 with all the 
workers going off to themselves?

We have a few 20-somethings who will help when asked to fix a computer problem 
or run an errand but are uninvolved with teams and less likely to take 
responsibility for an ongoing job. The 30-40-somethings are overwhelmed with 
children and professional obligations and are also more likely to have natal 
families living nearby who need attention. They aren’t here to celebrate 
holidays, for example. There are standouts in this age group who take on 
serious responsibilities certainly but not all. Some seem to be overwhelmed 
like deer in headlights. They are also likely to go missing for months and 
years at a time when a baby is born, there is a crisis at work, etc. 

Developmentally at age 50+, adults make a huge leap in attaching to their 
community. I once heard this described as the age when people see that they 
have either accomplished whatever they wanted to accomplish professionally or 
that they never will, and are looking for another arena in which to contribute. 
It is the 50, 60, and 70-somethings who most reliably take on the team and 
governance work, who are up at 5 am to run the snowplow.

We have a reinvigorated meal program bouncing along right now — I would venture 
to say that it is one area that every age participates in. If we want to have 
multi-generational communities, we have to figure out how to benefit from the 
contributions of each age. 

We are now almost 24 years old and I see more and more work being hired out, 
but not because of the age of residents. We have a whole new wave of 
30-40-somethings who have moved in and who could do what we did when we first 
moved in. But we’ve done many of the jobs that we could do easily ourselves — 
like major landscaping changes, small walkways, etc. Ongoing jobs are 
maintenance — weeding, winter and spring tasks, etc. What we are facing now are 
many major jobs that have to be done every 15-20 years. These require 
construction companies. The work is in doing the research and interviewing 
required to make decisions about who to hire to do what. 

I’m not suggesting that everything works perfectly at Takoma Village. We also 
have a new group looking at workshare and how to increase participation. And 
others might disagree with my characterizations of age groups. It does help to 
be specific when thinking about work needing to be done. It’s easy for some of 
us to feel guilty for not doing enough.

And the fact is that maintaining 30-40 homes takes a lot of time.

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