Comments on: It’s Not My Bag, but is Cohousing for You?

By: Raines Cohen

Raines Cohen — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:40:54 +0000

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

By: Katrina Munsell

Katrina Munsell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:28:55 +0000

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.

By: Craig Ragland

Craig Ragland — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:54:54 +0000

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 http://www.cohousing.org.

Thanks,
Craig Ragland
Executive Directory, Coho/US

By: Roland

Roland — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:40:24 +0000

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.

By: Roland

Roland — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:36:45 +0000

You’re cynical.