Creating Sustainable Neighborhoods; Learning from the Cohousing Experience

Registration is now available for the 2012 National Cohousing Conference
Marriott Oakland CA City Center: Wednesday June 13 - Sunday June 17

Register now to get the early bird discount.

For more information visit the conference website:  http://conference.cohousing.org/

In forming communities, should a website be minimal if it wants to attract new members or let everything hang out?

Minimal means there is nothing to scare anyone. Nothing to turn anyone off. This argument goes along with believing that personal contact is persuasive and written information is impersonal and confusing. Cohousing is about personal contact, not rules and requirements.

The flip side is that there is nothing to attract people on a minimal website. If all some people see is the name, address, and serial number, they may not go further. People who don't know about cohousing need information. Not everyone will come to an information session with strangers trying to sell them something if they don't already have a clear sense that they might want to buy in.

Who are you trying to attract?

Every year around this time we have a community retreat. It is a time for all of us to reconnect. To get to know each other on a deeper level. Sometimes the retreat is facilitated with outside help and sometimes from members of the community.

The first night, Friday night, we have a potluck, a ceremony of some kind,and then we watch the Heartwood movie. The movie is made by gathering all the photos and movies that people have taken of life at Heartwood or individual accomplishments for the year and these are put to music by two of our teenage girls. They have been doing this now for several years. It is a fun way for them to contribute and the product is always amazing and something we can look back on in 10 years and see how we have changed and grown.

The theme of the 2012 National Conference is “Creating Sustainable Neighborhoods; Learning from the Cohousing Experience.” Governor Jerry Brown of California recently endorsed the concept of cohousing as a more sustainable living environment.

The Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards are made each year by the Governor of California. This year Jerry Brown was at the awards ceremony to recognize McCamant and Durrett Architects of Wolf Creek Lodge as one of the recipients for 2011. The awards are “given only to individuals, organizations, and businesses who exemplify exceptional leadership for protecting and enhancing the environment while at the same time promoting economic growth”.

Lately I have been thinking about what CoHousing is like from a child's perspective. And as Oliver Wendell Homes said, "Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children." For them it must be heaven. No meetings, no money worries, conflicts come and go at the drop of a hat. So I asked some of the kids in our neighborhood what they like and don't like about living in CoHousing. What was the most telling, was that many of them couldn't come up with anything they didn't like!

Here are some of the answers I got:

What do you like best about CoHousing?

"I can ride my bike all over the place."
"Being able to walk to your friend's house."
"Playing with my friends."
"There are a lot of things, there is a lot of room that we can run and play out of the cluster"

When can I object? Should I ever object if I want to support my community?

The whole process of reaching consensus is one of resolving objections. Initially, what would be called objections later in the process are called problems or needs or desires. That's why decisions arise — someone objects to the status quo. I object to extension cords being left on the counter in the dining room so I propose they be kept in the drawer underneath.

Objections are not vetoes. There is no big inky brush that you use to make your big sloppy X on the face of a proposal thus relegating it to the ash pile. Objections are good because in resolving them the proposed action is improved to address the needs of all members. This builds a stronger community.

One of the challenges of managing a community is how to track all the tiny maintenance tasks that are not ongoing. Ongoing tasks can be assumed by one person who takes responsibility for doing them when they need to be done. Responsibility for large one-time tasks can be assumed by a temporary team. For example, completing a short walkway from a parking lot to a gate, working a few hours on three Saturdays.

But for the small things or the tasks that only need to be done a few times a year, regularly scheduled workdays have proved the most successful. At Takoma Village, we schedule a workday from 9:00 to 4:00, including a simple lunch, every two months, alternating between Saturdays and Sundays. One in the fall and one in the spring are focused on the grounds. This has been a wonderful way to get work done and for many adults and children to contribute to the community.

Purely out of procrastination I was perusing the OED and typed in "cohousing." Much to my surprise I found a detailed entry. Like being in the Library of Congress catalog, that means cohousing has arrived. They need a more explicit quote, however. These imply that cohousing is rather like single room occupancy.

co-housing, n.

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈkəʊhaʊzɪŋ/ , U.S. /ˈkoʊˌhaʊzɪŋ/
Etymology: < co- prefix + housing n.1: see quot. 1988.

A residential development in which individual households share some common facilities or amenities, and residents are communally responsible for managing the community.

1988 K. McCamant & C. Durrett Cohousing i. i. 10/2 In Denmark‥these communities are called bofœllesskaber in Danish (directly translated as ‘living communities’), for which we have coined the English term ‘cohousing’. First built in the early 1970s, cohousing developments have quadrupled in number in the last five years.

Has your community found a great solution to a common cohousing challenge? Do you have expertise in a particular area of cohousing development or community living? Is there a burning question or issue that you'd like to discuss in a forum with other cohousers? Submit your idea to the 2012 National Cohousing Conference program committee!

The 2012 National Cohousing Conference will be held June 13-17th in Oakland, CA. The theme is: Creating Sustainable Neighborhoods: learning from the cohousing experience. We'll be giving a little extra attention to the social and economic aspects of the sustai! nability triad. Attendees will include cohousing residents, members of fledglingcommunities, professionals, and folks completely new to the idea. Presentations, workshops, and roundtable discussions will range in length from one hour to two days.

Some areas we are particularly seeking submittals and suggestions:

Q In an organization that previously worked by consensus of the whole, the shift to consent within circles seems like a loss of power and "equal say" for me as a member of my community. If I am in the Buildings & Grounds Circle and have an objection to a proposal being decided in the Membership Circle's domain, I feel powerless. I would have to persuade my circle to take my concern to the General Circle and direct it down again to the Membership Circle. How can I explain sociocratic equivalence and "everyone has equal say" when I don't?

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The standard is that everyone has the right to consent or object within their domain. But this standard is designed for workplaces, not living places. In a workplace everyone's concerns are focused fairly narrowly on the requirements of their job, and in order to run an efficient production line, the domains are clearly defined.