Aging in Place: Aging Successfully: A Community Approach to Independent Living
Charles Durrett
Traditional forms of housing no longer address the needs of many older Americans. Nor are baby-boomers going to accept what our parents had. Most of the current options for “retirement living” are inadequate, both socially and healthwise. Cohousing opens up new alternatives for seniors to take control of the inevitable, to live as independently as possible, as long as possible. Cohousing offers aging adults a way to live among people with whom they share a common bond of age and experience—an entirely new way to house themselves with dignity, independence, safety, mutual concern, and fun.
Charles Durrett, with his wife Kathryn McCamant, introduced the concept of cohousing to the U.S. with their book Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. Charles authored Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living – The Handbook and coined the word “cohousing” for which he is credited in the Oxford English Dictionary. He has designed over thirty cohousing communities in the United States, including Muir Commons, the first cohousing community in North America, and has consulted on many more around the world. Durrett, Katie, and daughter, Jessie, now live in the Nevada City, CA cohousing community with 20 seniors and 20 other families.
Related pages: Accessibility, Senior Cohousing
Chuck Durrett: On Aging
I took Chuck's Aging in Place Successfully, Senior Cohousing Study Group 1 Facilitator workshop in Fall, 2007 with another member of the Songaia community. We were sponsored by a newly forming community, New Earth Song.
New Earth Song then sponsored a 10-week study course at Songaia which was regularly attended by 17 of the adults involved in these two communities. It was quite an experience that really helped us "active adults" (age 42-72) come together around a bunch of critical issues. If you want to hear more about our community's experiences with aging, you can hear the presentations that one of my neighbors, Fred Lanphear, will be sharing in two other workshops at the Boston Conference, Creative Community Options for the Second Half of Life and Songaia... an unfolding dream.
I feel a lot of gratitude toward Chuck and his work in bringing both Cohousing and Senior Cohousing to the United States. Chuck and his wife, Katie McCamant, have created so much opportunity for all us cohousers, as we weave together better lives - for ourselves, our families, and the world.
I really look forward to seeing Chuck again in Boston!
Craig Ragland
Coho/US Executive Director
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