Who:

CohoUS is seeking persons interested in serving on the Affordable Cohousing Task Group – see Charter attached for purpose and strategic actions. We invite people of diverse backgrounds to participate.

We are looking for individuals passionate about incorporating affordable/low income units into new and existing cohousing projects. Previous knowledge/insights into the affordable housing arena is not required, although it would be a plus.

Members must have access to a computer for sharing/collaborating on files. Members must be able to participate in long distance conference calls every other week (however, if the cost of phone calls is a financial burden keeping you from participating, please apply and let us know so we can see if there is anyway we can alleviate/remove the burden).

Structure:

I was distressed to see someone in the Fayetteville, North Carolina area asking about reaching cohousing neighborhoods in the "Live Wire" (answers/citizen advocate) column in the Fay Observer today. The illustrates the importance of making sure that websites and communities/cohousing directory entries are kept up to date and that we all work together to make sure that our community contacts are responsive.

A frustrated reader wrote:

We're seniors who are interested in cohousing. In August, we wrote three cohousing communities but didn't hear back from any of them. Can you tell us why? - T.R., Fayetteville

This is a story told by cohouser and consensus facilitator Evan Richardson, who lives at Westwood Cohousing in Asheville, North Carolina. Evan coordinates Laird Schaub and Ma’ikwe Ludwig's IFP-Southeast, their two-year facilitation training held quarterly at various cohousing communities and other intentional communities in the Southeastern states, (IFP trainings are held in the Mid-Atlantic states and other regions too.) Evan shared this story with trainees in the IFP-Southeast program.

Evan’s daughter Lila and other 8, 9, and 10-year-olds at Westwood Cohousing began gathering in May, 2008, for a twice-monthly meeting to solve problems, share appreciations, and discuss plans for fun things to do. Generally Even or two other adults facilitate the circle, with the kids setting the agenda.

Joani posted to this to coho-l, and I wanted to get it here as well:

"I found a fascinating history of collaborative housing communities in Europe (and in particular in Sweden) going back to the early years of the 19th century."

http://www.kollektivhus.nu/eng/sidor/history/colhisteng08.pdf

Fred Olsen added:

"The 11 page article by Dick Urban Vestbro from November 2008 is in English but has a little Swedish in illustrations. He traces "collaborative housing" back a very long way. I found it interesting how he found
changing women's roles to be so much a motivation for the evolution of collaborative housing. Other trends seemed to be toward preparation of meals by residents rather than by a paid staff. This seemed to be more possible as communities were designed for fewer people. The term "unit" in the paper refers to a community while we use the term "unit" for a households residence within a community."

The author of the article then posted:

"Dear friends,

In a recent post I talked about the aprons we use as part of our welcoming ceremony for new members. And I haven’t put it into the context of our overall welcoming ceremony.

As with our community, our welcoming ceremony is informal and homey. And it still has a little structure. The idea was to make the ceremony a re-bonding experience for everyone and a simple, but heart-felt welcome. At their inception, rituals can feel a bit home-spun, but they build quickly and don’t need to be elaborate.

Last year Americans drove 5 billion miles caring for seniors in their homes (Meals on Wheels, Whistle Stop Nurses, and so on). In our small, semi-rural county in the Sierra foothills, Telecare made 60,000 trips in massive, lumbering, polluting vans-buses – usually carrying only one senior at a time – schlepping a couple thousand seniors total over hill and dale to doctor’s appointments, to pick up medicine, or to see friends. In our cohousing community of 21 seniors, I have never seen a single Telecare bus in the driveway. In cohousing it happens organically by caring neighbors: “Can I catch a ride with you?”; “Are you headed to the drug store?”, etc. And this alternative is much more fun and inexpensive for all involved, and much less damaging to the environment. Wolf Creek Lodge, a new senior cohousing community about to start construction, has 30 units to be built on 1 acre within walking distance of downtown Grass Valley, population 12,000.

According to story in today's Union Leader, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch yesterday toured Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm, the state's first completed cohousing neighborhood.

He wasn't the first New Hampshire Governor to walk the Peterborough property, though: the community was built in 2008 on the historic homestead of Gov. John Steele (1789-1865), and the basement of his renovated now super-insulated home (now offices) houses the ultra-efficient renewably-fueled wood-pellet-burning boilers that circulate heat and supply hot water to the 29 homes clustered onto just five of the 113 acres, preserving extensive woods and farmland, the story notes.

As the old saw goes, the aspiring musician, lost on the streets of New York, asks a passerby "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" And is told "Practice, Practice, Practice!"

If you were to ask how we got the wonderful, colorful extensive in-depth Cohousing Tours coverage in the New York Times last month, I'd say: "Connections, Community, Cooperation." Read on to learn more about the history.

And as for how you can leverage this opportunity to benefit your group and further build The Cohousing Movement, another 3 C's are the keys: Correspondence, Comments, Conference. We'll explore these in part two.

Join me below the fold for a short journey to explore how the article came about and what you can do about it, with some perspective on the power of working together as a movement.

You could be a future resident of a new-build cohousing community in downtown Oakland close to the subway (a very short ride to downtown San Francisco), City Hall, The new "Uptown" neighborhood, and the First Unitarian Church of Oakland (FUCO).

It takes time, energy and money contributed by the future-resident group to get a cohousing community built. Finding suitable sites at a reasonable cost in the Bay Area has been very difficult for many years... so when a site like the one described here becomes available, we're inclined to jump at the chance to see if a future resident group (as well as some outside investors) can be assembled.

I've just returned home from the National Conference in Seattle this weekend. I want to express my deep appreciation for the incredible effort it took to put this event on, the inspirational presence and talks by Jan, Mark and Robert, the great presentations, volunteers, and participants. And much, much more! I'm exhausted and exhilarated. Let's use our energy to further the movement.