Communal housing comes of age

The Los Angeles Times published an article in December 2007 describing the concept of elder cohousing. As an example, it used Wolf Creek Lodge, a cohousing project in formation in Grass Valley, Nevada County -- the Gold Country foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California.

Officially classified as elder cohousing, it's members range in age from 59 through 84 with most in their mid 60s. It's an offshoot of the growing cohousing movement. The article describes the basic premises of cohousing, where it started, and where it's going. It's a great resource for people learning about cohousing.

The people participating in Wolf Creek hope to join with a group of like-minded people -- all relatively healthy and not that old -- and together they could build a community that would be something between a commune and condo complex.

Wolf Creek will have 30 units, complete with a common house where members will dine together several nights each week. It will be California's second elder cohousing community and only the fourth such project nationwide, according to the article. A dozen or so others are in the works.

Although at 53, I have a hard time thinking of myself in terms of being an 'elder', the reason for forming the community rings true for me: "Many people don't have an extended family, or it's an extended dysfunctional family," said one potential member. "We'll have this close community for, well, the rest of our lives."

Interesting to know that there are about 100 multi-generational cohousing communities in the United States -- more in Northern California than anywhere else. They usually consist of town houses or separate residences built around a common house and shared open space. Elder Cohousing is a response to the fading away of our traditional understanding of family and care-giving, according to Dr. Bill Thomas, geriatrician.

What members want is to live in a place where "if you break a hip, your neighbors will help you buy groceries. . . . We're trying to recreate the neighborhood, so the neighbors will look out for you," one member said.

The units are expected to run from about $200,000 for those designated affordable to $500,000. The complex also will have two guest suits an a unit that could be used for a shared caregiver.

"The ides is to make lifestyle choices now that can sustain you through your future but which provide a lot of fun," one member said. "The idea is to maintain control over your own life as long as possible."