Cohousing Déjà vu
Our Getting It Built Workshop comes almost exactly on the nine-year anniversary of the day I first heard of cohousing. At the time, I was a member of the Board of Directors of Tri-City Homeless Coalition (now Abode Services). In that capacity, I attended the Housing California Conference April 23-25, 2007 at the Sacramento Convention… Read More
Unpack. Repack. Repeat.
[Richard Leider is a keynote speaker at our Aging Better Together Conference. All conference participants will receive a copy of Richard’s book, The Power of Purpose] I originally co-authored Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Good Life in response to a growing and urgent desire—the desire shared by countless people to simplify their… Read More
Common House vs Condo Clubhouse: Do you Dare Tell the Appraiser that One is about Substance and the other Fluff?
While it has been arguably necessary, it is also unfortunate that cohousing projects are most often sold to appraisers and banks as nothing less–and nothing more–than a condominium. You’ve cut costs and squeezed expenses, and your appraisal is still a barrier to getting a loan. It’s looking like there’s nothing left to do short of… Read More
What is a Senior-Friendly Cohousing Community?
When talking about “Aging in Community” I often refer to a senior-friendly cohousing community. Please don’t confuse the term senior-friendly with senior-only. Senior-friendly can refer to either multi-generational or seniors only communities. They both modify the cohousing model to create physical and social environments that allow people to flourish as they get older. A senior-friendly… Read More
Cohousing: Communities of Proximity as We Age
Katie McCamant’s recent interview centered on cohousing’s benefits to those entering the “next act” of their lives. Her responses speak to the tandem benefits of this nexus: aging in community while remaining integrated in the fabric of our chosen city/region. Katie’s experience as development consultant, cohousing entrepreneur and lead at CoHousing Solutions grounds the discussion,… Read More
Aging Better Together Conference: Making Senior Cohousing a Reality
Like many other baby boomers, the experience of caring for elder parents had a profound effect on my vision of aging in America. Although, my work had been focused on improving the lives of seniors through the use of technology and options for aging in place, the realities of aging in place didn’t hit me… Read More
Not Dressing Up As Much: Joy at Germantown Commons
“I feel different,” Essie said quizzically as she stood in front of her new condo in Germantown Commons, “I’m not dressing up as much as before.” We had just started moving in to the brand new homes completed in August 2015. Germantown Commons is a 25 home cohousing community one mile from downtown Nashville And… Read More
When lying awake last night reflecting on various decisions made in cohousing and in my neighborhood community, I explored some questions about what is open and transparent in a world where everyone belongs to several organizations and tries to involve and represent a larger community. What is required to truly inform and solicit information about… Read More
I echo Jenny Godwin’s sentiments in her Social Portfolio blog in taking stock of our connections. Outside of cohousing, we live in a culture that values materialism and wealth, with social ties taking a back seat. This despite evidence that “social capital” is a significant factor in health and happiness – more even than eating… Read More
Have you ever felt a “feeling” of loneliness that seems physical and tangible? Similar to the feeling of hunger, it seems the loneliness feeling serves an evolutionary need: We feel hungry so that we eat and don’t die. Likewise, we physically feel lonely so that we make connections with each other and we can collectively… Read More
Aging Better Together:The Time is Now
The stereotype and dominant paradigm of cohousing communities as they’ve developed over the past quarter century in the US is that our neighborhoods are great places for kids, the next generation, families, call it what you like. We’re all about the “village” it takes to raise a child, in the eyes of many. But if… Read More
The Passage into Elderhood
[Laird’s post is relevant to our Aging Better Together Conference, with sessions on “conscious aging” and “the power of purpose.” Come join us!] I recently received an interesting invitation, asking if I would write about elderhood, and what it means to make a purposeful transition into that stage of life: “Elderhood is certainly one of… Read More
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