Senior Cohousing makes senior years healthy, social & stimulating
In my last post I described how a vivid vision in a book helped inspire my husband and me to launch our dream of living in community. That book was “Cohousing – A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves” by Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett. The community we created was WindSong Cohousing in Langley (near Vancouver) BC. Our cohousing community includes singles, couples and families of all ages. Our residents range in age from 3 months to over 70 years old.
While our community attracts many seniors who love the opportunity to be around children, there are some seniors who would not like this intergenerational cohousing model. Babies crying and little children running around can be a noisy experience for some people.
Luckily for those seniors who would prefer a different configuration, author Chuck Durrett is back with a book geared specifically to seniors. Here, in his own words, he introduces his latest book about a community approach to independent living.
Senior Cohousing: Establishing a Healthy, Sustainable Lifestyle
for an Aging Generation
by Chuck Durrett
Last year Americans drove 5 billion miles caring for seniors in their homes (Meals on Wheels, Whistle Stop Nurses, and so on). In our small, semi-rural county in the Sierra foothills, Telecare made 60,000 trips in massive, lumbering, polluting vans-buses – usually carrying only one senior at a time – schlepping a couple thousand seniors total over hill and dale to doctor’s appointments, to pick up medicine, or to see friends. In our cohousing community of 21 seniors, I have never seen a single Telecare bus in the driveway. In cohousing it happens organically by caring neighbors: “Can I catch a ride with you?”; “Are you headed to the drug store?”, etc. And this alternative is much more fun and inexpensive for all involved, and much less damaging to the environment.
Wolf Creek Lodge, a new senior cohousing community about to start construction, has 30 units to be built on 1 acre within walking distance of downtown Grass Valley, population 12,000. Top of mind, one future household will be moving from a 20 acre lot, 9 miles from town, another from 15 acres, also 9 miles out of town, and another from 13 acres, 7 miles from town. These are young seniors planning not only to live more sustainably, but more fulfilling as well.
Bill Thomas, M.D. and prominent author on issues affecting seniors, describes our currently predominant scenario of caring for seniors as the “$3 trillion dollar dilemma.” The cost of care for the 78 million new senior/baby boomers “coming of age” in the next 20 years will be $3 trillion dollars more per year than it is now (and that is in a nation with a $13 trillion dollar GDP – so that’s a chunk of change). It goes without saying, that the current pattern is not sustainable from an environmental, cultural or sociological point of view.
President Obama has announced that for us to arrest global warming, we will have to reduce carbon emissions by 2% per year until 2050. It seems doable, but last year, carbon emissions increased by 1.4% — we are headed in the wrong direction. Given this situation, we’ve got to do something. We need to think collectively about how to set seniors up for success and to help them achieve their full potential into their last 20-30 years.
We can help seniors fulfill their desires for a more rewarding living arrangement that better supports their well being, physically, socially and emotionally. And the good news is that I haven’t witnessed anyone having more fun since the college dorms, than seniors living in cohousing — and I’ve never seen anyone live more sustainably (my electric bill last year was minus $83.84).
“Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living,” second edition published by New Society Publishers — and the type of communities it describes and helps to create — allows seniors to live lightly on the planet and to enhance their quality of life at the same time.
If you have family, friends or others who you believe would benefit from living in a more supportive environment, please pass along the book order form here: Chuck Durrett – Senior Cohousing book info
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miriam darling, you are the coolest person i know. however i cant open your coho book order link. love chuckl
miriam, i edit a very groovy web page called all things healing. check it out. i think that it would be ideal if you’d submit something re coho to me to put on that site. love chuck
Hey Chuck, thks for your comments. The link to the book order form does work for me, so I’m not sure what’s wrong.
I love the home page for http://www.allthingshealing.com and saw your smiling face in the Editors Corner on the page for “intentional communities.” I will get back to you by email on the writing piece.
I LOVE the idea of a senior cohousing “complex” (not “complex” at all!!)
Dear Miriam,
I’m wondering if it’s time we removed the need for such a thing as “senior” co-housing? On a practical side and in light of our somewhat unnatural social structures I can understand how such a thing as separation of elders and youth exist – and the several reasons elders may choose to live amongst each other. Yet, I still feel it’s unnatural to separate ourselves based on our ages. Often maturity is not proportional to age. This concept of “senior” co-housing seems to be from an age we are leaving behind.
Surely it’s time for change. Can it just be “Co-housing”?
Elders should be sharing the wisdom they’ve gained from years of practical experience with the youth? Who better than the elders to share in the upbringing of the young? In my mind, when I see children and elders playing together, I sense a natural order.
In tribal Africa (I was born in South Africa) where tradition still remains in some rural areas, elders are respected functional members of the community and are cared for until they depart this world. Elders live full complete lives and usually hold the highest respect.
I’m not looking for ideals from the past, because we know that often tradition is not always the best way to do things. Instead I’m suggesting that we re-create the way we live. I’m convinced the core of this re-creation is “community”. In a healthy community, there would be no such thing as separation by age.
Is this concept of senior co-housing a result of there not being more ideal options available?
Congratulations with the book project! I love the title.
Oceans of Love
Santhan, I live in a cohousing community with people of all ages where children and elders play together, and I love it. Senior cohousing is a choice for those folks who want more deliberate control of their living environment as they age. It is indeed for some a great deal better than the option of living in an institution at the end of their lives. I welcome more choices.