Co-Housing

[roundcorners]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1650264/cohousing_a_new_way_to_love_thy_neighbor_cbn_com/

Check out what TIC just built!  A new IAC co-house...!  ok,, j/k, wouldn't that be something, if that actually happened!?

Under the broad umbrella of Intentional Communityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_community

is Co-housinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohousing

I wrote about Transition Laguna yesterday.  They would fall more under an evo-village, which focuses more on socially, economically and ecologically sustainability...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecovillagehttp://www.talkirvine.com/index.php?topic=852.0

Both models are very attractive... if I were to buy a four-plex I would use more of a micro co-housing model.  Although the common areas might be a little hard to come by in LB...  I'll write more about eco-villages later, but I never knew co-housing existed until now... did you?

more videos...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo2VJ9FIm4I[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0OSbvUuGb8[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrytqyqx9jU[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OzCT0u8QwM[/youtube]

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I think I saw a House Hunters episode where the buyer was looking for something like this. It was a great idea for eco friendliness and allowed you more house for you money with a communal benefit.

But this has limited use as it can really only be for certain types in certain areas (ie... not Irvine). I think it works well in a senior living environment and can actually be implemented in a young urban cluster too. 20-somethings can own their own property and have a social area. The problem is the younger set is more transitional and when you move to a more family oriented category... they tend to prefer their own living/eating space.

 

[roundcorners]

thanks for the input IHO... I might have to disagree, take a look at the video again, the one lady even emphasize that people of all ages can live together.  I know of a friend who lived in a artist commun/loft but it is not just appealing to the young or old.  Families also need to live in community; I think the young families are the ones who need the most help, with child care, food and emotional support as we are under so much pressure to make a living and take care of young children as well as aging parents.

I agree with most of you here, something like this probably won't work in Irvine, even if a lot of people need it and want it.  First TIC won't want you to grow your own food or share resources comunialy because they need you to support their chain retail stores and go work long hours in the companies they worked so hard to court.  You have such tiny lots that you can't possibly grow anything but concrete.

TIC has essentially inflate the cost of living here, directly by controlling and dictating housing prices, actively drawing the FCBs, and again courting large companies that compensate generously for talent that the average Irvine citizens can only dream of living a simple, ecological sustainable communal life surrounded by other like-minded individuals and families.

Even if this particular co-house makes TIC money, it'll never be popular because people here; almost all lost their sense of community dependency; achieve to be ruggedly individualistic; are pressured to project an image of strength, wealth and financial stability; are mostly Asians who have poor interpersonal/relational skills; and are too busy working/traveling to be at home with their neighbors.

Even if something like this gets built and gets buyers, no one would probably use the common space, the communal activities would mostly be surface level interactions, people would come for the food and leave; the community coordinator if they have one would just feel awkward because no-one is genuinely interested in one another; either because no one cares or no one has energy to care or everyone is just so drained from work to barely eek out enough energy for their own families or kids...

Panda always said, I don't belong here... no wonder I always felt like an Irvine Miss-Fit!

 

[irvinehomeowner]

But that's what I mean... certain types and certain areas.

Sure you will find multi-generational co-housing... in fact... much of the mid-west is full of that... I'm just saying in SoCal... in the more urban areas... especially Irvine... probably not.

And it does requires a good amount of land, which is another reason SoCal is not a great place for a project like this... although out in the Inland Empire where there are newly built homes being razed... it might work (heh).

 

[roundcorners]

http://www.cohousing.org/

In taking a look at the directory of the different co-houses in Cali,, guess how many are in the OC?!  Yup... none...!  I'm really tempted one of these days to head up to LA and take a tour of the LA Eco-Village... anyone else interested in carpooling?  Hey, I need some Irvine body guards to watch each others back in LA!!

If BK is still lurking around... I'm curious as to what you think of some of these communal designs... there seem to be quite a few firms specializing in co-houses...

 

[Talyssa]

I honestly think Co housing is a not a bad idea for irvine, but i also think that the way irvine has developed now, with its heavy emphasis on mcmansions and "luxury" condos/apartments means that the kind of peopel who live in Irvine or want to are also not really the kind of people who want to co-house. 

Cohousing is a LOT of work.  Look how many home owners associations are run by the owners rather than a company in Irvine (uh, are there  ANY?)?  Just running an HOA is a lot of work, involves a lot of neighborhood fighting and favoritism, a lot of potential for unscrupulous board members, and so on.  My parents neighborhood HOA is run by the people that live htere (its only 70 houses or so) and although it saves a lot of money, they have had issues like board members getting free gardening work from the guy they kept giving the exterior landscaping contract to, even though he was super expensive and had no taste or certifications at all (just went to home depot and bought cheap ground cover).    And this is a neighborhood where they don't have to worry about any shared expenses besides exterior walls and a little landscaping.

And how do you handle free loaders? what if one high powered couple works long hours, makes crazy good money, and always leaves their kids to just play with the cohouse kids and rely on those kids parents to watch the wealthy couple's kids.  Is it fair that the couple gets basically free child care and doesn't say, pay for it?  These are the kinds of people that live in OC.    And if they DO pay for it, whats their incentive to share housing space whent hey could have their own house?  What do you do if someone moves in and DOESN'T participate in the community?  Or they don't participate as much as OTHER people and then those other people get resentful. 

I think it works for some people but I don't think most OC people are the right types for it.  Not the ones that also have the money to buy into property anyhow.    It probably works best for single income homes too, or single income + a part time income.    Aka one person in the household who has some free time to put into the community. 

I guess... I can certainly imagine that there are plenty of people in OC who would love to do this, but I don't think that group has very much overlap wth the people who can afford to do it.  I mean sure you could probably get this done pretty cheap way out in the IE right now where prices are ultra depressed, but then you have to find people who want to live this way AND live in the IE.

 

[qwerty]

People would live in co-housing NEED to live there because of finances im guessing. Like you said, if you can afford your own housing/childcare i cant imagine anyone doing this. that is just my guess

 

[irvinehomeowner]

The IHB profiled a property today that could count as co-housing... for UCI students (it says 6 "suites"):
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/1-Wintersweet-Way-92612/home/4699824