Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing in DC paper The Hill today

[Jean Hopkins (seaheidi]

I hope the President doesn't read this.  Cohousing communities might be the 
next 'nonprofits' he attacks!
Just a little nervous here,  Jean
-----Original Message-----
From: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Apr 21, 2025 2:21 PM
To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org>
Subject: [C-L]_ Cohousing in DC paper The Hill today

Not sure if it is in print edition. This has been in progress since January
but only last week got scheduled to run this week.

https://thehill.com/business/housing/5245294-nontraditional-housing-alternatives/

Not much detail, cohousing is just kind of lumped in there with tiny homes
and &ldquo;barndominiums.&rdquo;

And of course, &ldquo;sharing homes with strangers&rdquo; is kind of the 
opposite of
what we know cohousing gives us in terms of neighborliness, privacy plus
community. Sharing &ldquo;Domestic Labor?&rdquo; Blech. As they say, &ldquo;the 
worst kind of
accurate &mdash; technically accurate.&rdquo;

Doesn&rsquo;t look like the author went very deep, given the format and brevity.
My quote is abbreviated enough to have lost most of its impact and context.
I chose out of my many hats to identify with the affiliation that would, I
thought, be most relevant for the readers - the National Cohousing
Association, aka Coho/US.

I had encouraged her to point to the Mid-Atlantic Cohousing bus tour coming
up Saturday, May 3, as a local resource in the DC area, and National
Cohousing Open House Days and the whole week next week as a great way to
see communities and learn more, but if she did it ended up cut (as a
long-ago tech journalist I know this happens, despite the best intent of
the author).

At least, it does link to the national website at https://www.cohousing.org/
, so readers can learn more. Perhaps that&rsquo;s all we can ask for in 
today&rsquo;s
short-attention-span media environment.
If the story allowed comments, I&rsquo;d encourage folks to post more context
there, but alas, this one does not.

Communities, it is sometimes worth sharing on social media even 
&ldquo;meh&rdquo;
stories like this, as a way to put forward your own message and get
attention given the national-policy branding of the paper.

Tip: when you share the link, add your own 1-2 liner about how it shows
that you are part of a recognized national movement, or use the opportunity
to highlight what&rsquo;s different about what you are doing or your own lived
experience of cohousing, and how the author missed the point. It creates
activity in your feed and might wake up one of your followers or their
friends to a next step of action, be it joining, supporting, sharing,
investing, or whatever it may be that you are waiting for people on.

Let&rsquo;s ant least have some fun with this &mdash; I encourage replies here 
on the
Cohousing-L list: pick any paragraph of the article and rewrite it as one
you think a fun, deep article truly sharing the secret joys and benefits of
cohousing would include.

Raines
Mysteriously living in an unnamed cohousing neighborhood in Berkeley,
California, as reported in DC&rsquo;s national politically influential newspaper
&ldquo;The Hill&rdquo; today.

(We&rsquo;ll get around to naming it eventually, what&rsquo;s the rush? It has 
been
there just 31 years)
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