Rainbow or White Bread? Ethnic Diversity in Cohousing
Submitted by Finding Your Co... on Sun, 08/03/2008 - 23:02
Print this pageBy Diana Leafe Christian
Fostermamas (see blog entry below) also mentioned that their family is multi-generational and multiracial. And on June 27th, Annette wrote a blog response, "Regarding ethnic diversity, what are the statistics?"
David Entin of Rocky Hill Cohousing in Northampton, Massachusetts (and Board Member of Coho/US and co-host of its "Research" Topic Room), responds with the following:
"My own cohousing community has wrestled with this question, especially when we were recruiting for initial members and found it so difficult to attract people of color. We do live in an area that has few people of color, which made it more difficult. Our 28 household adult members are all white, though one has part Native American heritage. We do have more diversity of children, through adoptions, children from India, Guatemala, and African-American children.
"In addition, we have diversity in terms of age (from six months to 72 years), a disabled person, and a good mix of gay and straight, both individuals and couples.
"I am familiar with the three others cohousing communities here in the Pioneer/Connecticut River Valley, and they are similar to us in terms of limited diversity. We also have some diversity through a few renters and associate members."
I'd love to hear from more cohousers -- including people seeking a cohousing community to join -- what they want, and what they expect, in terms of ethnic diversity in cohousing. Are cohousing communities welcoming to people of color (I think they are) and to multi-racial families? And to larger, multi-generational families? What are you finding? Thanks!
—Diana Leafe Christian
Related pages: Finding Community, Considering Cohousing
- Finding Your Community's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
If you want to discuss this post or receive email notifications of other postings, login or become a member. It’s free.
Purchase an Email Broadcast
Ethnic Diversity Statistics
Unfortunately, there is very little (quantitative) data available at this point. We hope to expand the scope of the 2009 Cohousing Census. For 2008, Coho/US was highly resource constrained and could only afford to compile available data in our census. For 2009, we hope to actively collect new information from at least a strong sample of the 113 known built cohousing communities.
Craig Ragland
Coho/US Executive Director
ETHNIC DIVERSITY
We all know that redlining, and housing discrimination is very real so we have to assume, like it or not that discrimination is present in every community. I have checked out cohousing communities. Cohousing is a lifelong interest. But I will be very cautious. I get the same prejudice you hear of in the rental market. Immediate stereotyping and steering with comments like what kind of dog do you have, you know everyone wants peace and quiet, there are rules about car repairs. Of course these comments seem common or typical, every community has rules, but believe me these comments are intended differently and the person making the comments may not even realize how much of their racial fear they are expressing. If you look deeply into the by-laws of older homeowner associations you will find there is still language specifically prohibiting jewish, black, african american, asian, and latino households. If you attend homeowner association or coop meetings today, you will find commentary like can't we prohibit a certain ethnic group by including rules of behavior that are specific to that ethnic group. I know most cohousing groups are striving for social and economic equity but these are the very real undercurrents and conversation that happen everyday in homeowner associations to coops and cohousing is not immune.
Sept. 23rd comment on racial predjudice in cohousing
The person commenting on Sept. 23rd, above, wrote, "I know most cohousing groups are striving for social and economic equity but these are the very real undercurrents and conversation that happen everyday in homeowner associations to coops and cohousing is not immune."
I'm interested in this perspective because it seems like the opposite of what I see and hear among cohousers, though I certainly believe the commenter's experience with various co-op housing and homeowners associations (of the non-cohousing kind).
I've not only never heard of a cohousing group, or any individual cohousers, not wanting neighbors from among the populations listed above, but I have heard, many times, cohousers who actively want neighbors who are African American, Asian, Hispanic, and other cultures and who wish they knew how to attract households from these popuations. (And as for Jewish cohousers, in my experience, most cohousing groups I'm familiar with have many Jews in their population, if not in their founding core group.)
So I'm wondering if the commenter's negative experiences with co-ops or other housing developments has influenced his or her expectations of cohousing. In my experience, when a cohouser says, "We have quiet hours here," or "What kind of dog do you have?" that's literally what they mean. Because, I know so well, these are the kinds of issues that come up in any community: cohousing or some other kind of intentional community.
I'd like to ask the commenter if he or she would comment again, and let us know about any instances in cohousing specifically that seemed like genuine racial predjudice. I would be saddened to hear this, but believe we need to acknowledge it if it exists. And yet. . . I can't help but think cohousers really are talking about neighborhood quiet hours and pet policies.
Diana Leafe Christian