Co-housing

I know I live in a Co-housing community because it takes me half an hour and two beers to get from my car to my front door...

Introduction

What's co-housing?

Wikipedia's co-housing entry is very succinct - go and read that, rather than me regurgitating it here.

What's this page for?

This page has a few functions:

1. To collate information on co-housing and co-operative living, in an open and growing format, as a pre-cursor to a more coherent web-site.
2. To start the development of a new co-housing site in Sheffield (note the context of the Burngreave Masterplan campaign).
3. To think about the concept of co-housing: can it be used to tie housing to sustainable communities in a new and useful way?
4. To look at the issue of housing - especially affordable eco-housing - generally

I've also taken the opportunity to nab a load of stuff from the website of the UK Co-housing Network - this site should be continuing, but there's a little question mark over it at the moment.

Finance

Have any of you got a spare million pounds? No? Then coming up with ways of financing a project like this is going to be vital. Here are some possibilities...

Triodos Bank

Here's a link to a paper submitted by Triodos Bank to the Co-housing network website.

Legal Structure

Here's one example from the Community Project in Lewes.

Case Studies

Hockerton Housing Project

A visit is being arranged for March by Burngreave Community Action Forum to go to see this site, as a potential model for the Woodside development... phone Saleema on 2755055 or BCAF on 272 8008.

On the net...

General links

The Co-housing Association of the United States.

This link shows the kinds of exchanges (in people and property) that a website could facilitate.

Retrofit co-housing Links

The page for retrofit co-housing

This is a good retrofit cohousing page, which contains a link to this description.

A good story on retrofit co-housing in California.

Theory, Issues, thoughts

an irrelevant rural idyll for rich daydreamers?

This is an interesting article on whether co-housing is just something for the middle classes - of no relevance to the affordable housing sector. Currently, given how much time and work it takes people, it would be hard to disagree with. But how could this be changed...?

When is a commune not a commune?

When it's a co-housing project for over-50s, and the washing-up gets done

An article from the Guardian that shows how co-housing is being used as a viable alternative to the grim housing many old people end up in.

"There are 200 'co-housing projects' for older people in the Netherlands - and leading co-housing consultant Maria Brenton thinks that the UK could go the same way if there were more government support."

There's one such development in London...

"For co-housing to grow, it needs the blessing and support of local authorities and politicians."

Inward n Outward facing

Example from The Times - in what ways can co-housing integrate socially and economically with the local area? Recycling might be another way...

The London Co-housing Project "believes it is both economically and socially important to include the wider community in their plans. "We do not want to be known as the 'weirdos behind the brick wall' and would like to interact with the local community," says Comfort.

"We believe that a lot of our facilities are compatible with commercial enterprise. If we are going to have an expensive, industrial kitchen in the village, which is only fully utilised after the children come home from school, it makes sense to open it to the public as an organic café during the day."

"On the same level, we hope to have an organic market and offer our other facilities to non-residents on a commercial basis."

Note: it's also possible to sell stuff to yourself on a commercial basis. E.g Townhead sell beer to themselves at a profit, and use the profit for communal ventures like installation of photovoltaic cells.