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Sparkle (3)
Recently, I moved to a co-housing community with my beau and the "How's life at the commune?" inquires began. Sadly, the 60s commune is the only reference most people have to community living. Well, I'm here to provide an updated concept of group living that is spreading across a nation full of people struggling to disconnect from their devices and connect with one another. With a resolve to cultivate more real-life connections in my own life, co-housing is precisely the atmosphere I crave.
"Building a better society, one neighborhood at a time."
--tag-line of Co-Housing.org
Co-housing is an organized, collaborative community that shares weekly meals, chores and other life activities, such as child-rearing; it is a neighborhood with a consciousness connection. With all the bright primary-colored homes facing one another like circled wagons, it feels very 'deliberate'. I have taken to calling it The Village because that is exactly what it feels like.
We'd long discussed the appeal of living this way and had our names on several co-housing waiting lists in Colorado. When a sudden opportunity to rent in a decade-old co-housing community appeared on Craigslist, we pounced on it immediately. There are few renters here at Hearthstone but we were welcomed warmly. (There are 33 homes in our community and approximately 75 residents, including 32 children.)
When I tell people I live in co-housing, the first question is always, "Is it difficult to share your living space?" Let's be clear, the houses are not shared, life is shared. There are no dorm rooms.
"Our vision is to live creatively in supportive and sustainable relationships with each other, the neighborhood and the environment."
--Heathstone Vision Statement
In fact, the quality of my surroundings has improved significantly for maybe $100 more a month than my previous dwelling. (This includes HOA fees, approximately $140 per household, which covers general landscaping and snow removal, among other things.) I went from living alone in a 750 sq. ft. apartment to reigning over a 2024 sq. ft. tri-level house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. Although a man and a cat have been added to the mix, I now feel like one of those women who owns napkin rings. Our kitchen feels like a command center and we've got a jacuzzi tub in the basement. Some sacrifice.
Much like the Mexican zocalo (town square), the Community House (CH) is the center of the community. It's where common meals are held (approx. 2x a week), where I practice the piano, do yoga, get my mail, check the community calendar and chat with neighbors. I also love to hear the squeals of delight coming from the Kid's Room, which is usually filled with adorable munchkins playing with wild abandon.
The CH also houses numerous VHS tapes, DVDs and CDs available for borrowing, a laundry room, guest room/bathroom (which can reserved in advance for a visiting guest), wood shop, gym, huge ass TV, craft area, meditation room, business center, music room, BBQ patio and - swear to Shatner - an archery range.
In the mailbox area where we pick up our bills and letters in the CH, a plaque on the wall offers, "Top Reasons People Want To Live In Co-Housing" and includes, among others: "Intergenerational Living," "Diversity," "Sustainable Design," "Positive Environment for Raising Children," and "Safety & Security." It's all true. Our community includes young and old, working and retired, married and single. I think the only common thread that runs through everyone is an open mind and a willingness to share.
The co-housing idea originated in Denmark, around 1964, and there are now hundreds of co-housing communities worldwide, including the US, Canada, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and Austria.
The concept arrived on American soil when US architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett spent a year studying and photographing over 50 co-housing Danish communities, resulting in the 1988 book, "Co-Housing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves". It took just three years for the concept to sink in and the first American co-housing community was established in Davis, California in 1991 - Muir Commons, which still exists.
Since then, the concept has taken off. At last count, 35 states contain at least one co-housing community within their borders. The top five states for co-housing are: California (52), Washington (21), Massachusetts (18), Colorado (16) and Texas (12). Already at this early stage, I can't
