July 19, 2008
It’s Not My Bag, but is Cohousing for You?
Call me cynical, but I have a difficult time believing that any group of people living in tight quarters together can really get along. Heck, people can’t even get along for 40 days for $1 million dollars! So, imagine my cynicism when I ran across an article on “cohousing.” In principle, it sounds just fine and dandy–that is, if we could all just get along.
Cohousing takes community-style living one step further beyond the traditional master-planned community. Though members of a cohousing community each have their own private residences, including kitchens and laundry areas, these communities are characterized by the inclusion of extensive common areas, including a large kitchen, dining area, laundry facility, gym, outdoor garden area, and even child care facilities. Cohousing allows its members to share duties, such as cooking for the community, child care or even laundry.
Different strokes for different folks, they say. As for me, I’ve worked on enough “group projects” through the years to know that there are doers and slackers in every group. I would be horrified at the prospect of actually living a group project. Then again, the house-drawing personality test I took said that I “always want to live alone,” so it shouldn’t be a surprise.
However, in case the photo above strikes your fancy, here are some sales and rentals in our area:
For sale in the Seattle area:
Jackson Place Cohousing
800B, Hiawatha Place South, Seattle
2 br/ 1 ba, 857 sq.ft.
For rent in the Seattle area:
Duwamish Cohousing
1 br + loft duplex
For Sale in Port Townsend:
RoseWind Cohousing
2 br/1.75 ba, 1590 sq.ft.
For a listing of more cohousing groups in the Washington area, check out this directory. It also lists new co-housing groups that are currently forming in Bothell, Port Ludlow, Port Townsend, Tacoma, and Seattle, so that you can get in on the get go, if this is your cup of tea.
Roland said:
You’re cynical.
July 20, 2008 12:36 PM
Roland said:
My wife and I co-habitated with her cousin and a old friend of ours for 4-5 years in home in South Pasadena.
Problems? A few, easily resolved. And, all of us were “doers”, and held up our end of the arrangement.
I look at that time as one of the best in my life. Great living situation, great people, great times.
July 20, 2008 12:40 PM
Craig Ragland said:
Cohousing is not for everybody - but it is clearly satisfying quite a few people.
At Songaia Cohousing, near Bothell, where I live, we have 13 homes on 11 acres. I dare say that almost anyone could have as much privacy as they want here… most of the time one is alone when taking a stroll into our woods, our orchards, our organic gardens. Of course, living in cohousing, I know and trust my neighbors, so I might invite one of them to take a stroll with me and talk about our common interests.
So your image of people crowding together is a pretty limited point of view - although we do enjoy getting together for meals (which I only help cook or clean once-per-week), for parties, for movies, for conversations, etc. It is sometimes said that Cohousing is as much privacy as you want, with as much community as you need.
In the two decades since Cohousing was introduced into the United States, 113 cohousing communities have been envisioned and are now occupied, including 13 in Puget Sound. We are working hard to create a better society, one neighborhood at a time.
For those interested in learning more, please visit the Cohousing Website at www.cohousing.org.
Thanks,
Craig Ragland
Executive Directory, Coho/US
July 22, 2008 2:54 PM
Katrina Munsell said:
Thanks for the inside perspective, Craig. It’s an avenue worth exploring, for anybody who’s interested. Your website is a good resource for more detailed info.
July 22, 2008 4:28 PM
Raines Cohen said:
Thanks for noticing cohousing, Katrina. Indeed, it is not for everyone. However, in painting it with the broad brush of “living together,” linking it with communes and cooperatives, it’s easy to overlook what I believe is a key difference: you own your own home, can do your own thing, and you constantly have the choice of the privacy you need or the community you need. Which can result in closer relationships than you might otherwise encounter in just any development, but also many more folks you know just a little bit and they know a little bit about you. Also homes that start green and get greener, economies of scale, and useful support. It’s really about recreating the types of neighborhood/village support that were more commonplace 50-60 years ago or more.
Remember, you don’t have to love all your neighbors, just like enough of them to get the work done.
Raines Cohen, Cohousing Coach
at Berkeley (CA) Cohousing
July 27, 2008 6:40 AM