Co-Housing Offers Community Living in the Big City

Co-housing is a residential idea that has been gaining traction on the west coast. Now hear me out before you dismiss it as the way of life for “those west coast hippies in their communes.”

If you went to university and lived in one of those co-op residences, you’re maybe a little bit more familiar with the concept of co-housing. Basically, it involves self-contained, owned residential units clustered around a common area that may include daycare, recreation and even office facilities. It could also include communal kitchen and eating areas, as well as laundromats. In effect, they aren’t unlike today’s seniors’ villages, which allow a healthy mix of independent and communal living.

The idea of community housing is not new. Think about villages in the middle ages, where everybody lived independently but worked together to foster the prosperity and well-being of the village as a whole. Crops were grown for the benefit of the village, for example; village gatherings brought up the spirit of the community, and when somebody needed a hand-up, the village got together to help that person out.

The recent trend probably started in Denmark and spread to North America around the 1990s. Since then, there are more than 200 communities (most dotting the coastline from Vancouver Island down to California) created or in development. They usually vary in number from 20-30 units (which seems to be the most efficient size), though some have fewer than 15 units and others top out at about 35.

Though some complexes are being formed in existing communities (where residents unite to acquire land for the common areas and perhaps welcome others into the community), many are new developments. Ontario currently boasts five co-housing complexes in various stages of development — two in Ottawa, and one each in Kingston, Picton and Toronto. The one in Toronto is currently looking at feasibility.

Here’s the way it works. Co-housing combines the privacy of an owned home with the benefits of a tightly knit community. Although it's an old concept, it takes into account the realities of the modern world — two working parents living in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way, while sharing limited resources in order to not feel over-extended financially. In an urban landscape, things such as car-sharing actually become an integral part of the pedestrian-oriented co-housing community.

Ideally, they would take on the look of a larger suburban neighbourhood, with a mix of singles, couples, families with children, and seniors, though some cater specifically to one demographic.

Co-housing residents participate in the planning, design, ongoing management and maintenance of the community much in the same way condominium facilities use a management company to facilitate the operation of the building.

Residents participate in staging planned events, such as cooking dinners for the complex or planning monthly themed gatherings. The level of social interaction and shared resources varies among communities, with the limits being only the willingness and imagination of the residents. The aim is primarily to further a more practical and social living experience, and the community doesn’t usually have an ideological agenda.

It’s an interesting take on redefining the roles of residents in a neighbourhood and seems to fit right in with the urban idea of creating more family-friendly communities that allow residents to also partake in the cultural diversity a big city has to offer.

It may be an old idea, but whether contemporary urbanites are ready to relinquish a little autonomy and embrace the concept remains to be seen. We haven’t exactly built ourselves a society that embraces co-operation. What do you think? Will our site ever feature a co-housing development?