Today’s Good News: Co-housing “Changing The Face Of Housing And Aging”
It’s not just for seniors, and some articles about it hasten to add that it’s “not a commune.” I imagine it’s a lot of hard work. Yet the growing phenomenon of co-housing holds a lot of hope for boomers dreading growing old alone. Those of a certain age will recall the communes of the 60’s and 70’s, and may have read about earlier attempts at communal living. An article in the Dallas Morning News talks about today’s version. “Cohousing residents own their homes but share a common building that includes a kitchen, dining area and living room…Community members enjoy meals together two or three times a week and divide up chores...Projects usually consist of 20 to 30 households.” Most operate with a consensus system of decisionmaking. As of early this year, “About 5,000 people live in 93 communities, according to the Cohousing Association of the United States. An additional 107 communities are in some stage of planning or development.” Some are multigenerational, some are for people 55 and up. Some even have a mix of affordable rental apartments and single family homes.
A Dallas woman considering cohousing said “I don’t want to grow old in a neighborhood where people hide behind fences and act afraid of each other…I want to live in a community where people sit on their front porches and visit.”
Learn more from the Cohousing Association here.
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